The opening words of Charles Dickens’ novel A Tale of Two Cities, ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…’, could well be a 2020 global editorial capturing the diversity of thoughts. Hopefully, as the world has seemingly turned upside down, you are able to see aspects that highlight the best of times.
One program that is a beacon of light is the recently launched Carey Community Challenge. It was initiated by a group of staff from across the school soon after the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, with a bold goal to sustain healthy connections across our community during a time of social distancing. Through the latter part of Term 1 and during the student holiday period, staff created an online program inviting teams of four to six people to travel a virtual journey around Australia, with the completion of daily exercise and designated challenge tasks as their means to progress. The program was launched last Monday, and now has more than 350 teams and over 2000 participants. Those who signed up for the Challenge must pause as a team at 37 designated towns along the way where activities relevant to the local area must be completed. The initial objective was to continue to build relationships during these extraordinary times, yet it has also enabled a pathway to help maintain an active lifestyle and has opened explicit avenues for creative expression during this time when the arts can so easily be compromised.
At present, we have many teams making butter as they move through the first stop at Foster (see photo of one team’s effort). A Pilates class, run by Ashley Morris (OCG 2013), has also become available as a bonus challenge to provide extra kilometres, is one of many contributions from Old Carey Grammarians with an area of expertise. Through the Carey Community Challenge, in Dickens’s words, there is the potential to experience the ‘spring of hope’.
Peter Robson
Acting Deputy Principal
