A belated Happy New Year to you, wherever you are in the world, and I hope this newsletter finds you well.

Today marks our 105th Founders' Day at St Andrew's College, although it is looking a bit different from years gone by. Currently we are unable to have our normal Founders Day assembly and Highland Games due to New Zealand's COVID-19 restrictions. Instead, we have decided to film our assembly which means we can share it with you all, so I hope you enjoy watching this, and remembering your special Founders Day services. The link to view this can be found under Christine's message below.

The current attendee restrictions also means the postponement of this terms reunions and events. We made the difficult decision to move our 60 Years On (Class of 1962) and incorporate it with next year's reunion, as this is traditionally held on Founders Day weekend. We also had our Girls 30 Years On Reunion planned for this weekend, to align with our theme this year, celebrating 30 years of co-education at the College. We are looking forward to confirming an alternative date for this, possibly later in the year, to mark this important milestone. Our annual Old Collegians Golf Tournament will now be held on Friday 28 November.

In Term 2, we are hoping to host our 50 Years On and a double 40 Years On in July. Our 1st XV Rugby Reunion will be in June. We are planning an Auckland Regional reunion and a Dunedin Regional reunion also this year. The dates for these can be found under Key Dates 2022.

I hope you all keep safe and that by the time the next newsletter comes around, things will be closer to normal for us here in New Zealand.

Warm regards,

Lisa Clark
Alumni and Community Relations Co-ordinator 

Greetings from St Andrew’s College as we celebrate the Foundation of our school on 17 March, 1917.

We are pleased to share our online celebration with you, and hope you enjoy the talents of our students. In these challenging and uncertain COVID-19 times I couldn’t be more proud of the positive attitude and resilience of our young people. We are working hard to stay open for our students on campus and help them to enjoy as many activities as possible. Delivering uninterrupted learning and giving them a sense of normality is a priority for us.

Wishing you all the best and I hope we can proceed with our Old Collegian events again before long.

With warmest wishes

Christine

On the 105^th St Andrews College Founders Day, I want to acknowledge the effort and resilience of the staff and students at the College who enable the St Andrews College community to celebrate such important events in one way or another. Today as we celebrate Founders Day, the Old Collegians Association are extremely pleased to award the G.A.M. Hilson Memorial Accounting/Economics Award to Alex Ying and the Henry Dowling Memorial French Award to Corin Simcock for their achievements in Year 12 in 2021. It is also very special to celebrate 30 years of girls at St Andrew's College this year. The co-education I enjoyed as a student, and that the students enjoy today, has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on my life. I cannot count the number of times I’ve had a comment from a non-Old Collegian about the incredible friendships Old Collegians have with one another.

Note that our Old Collegian event planning (and subsequent adapting) continues behind the scenes by our determined Alumni Co-ordinator, the wonderful Lisa. So, as we endeavour to get back to hosting events, I hope everyone stays safe and well and I look forward to seeing you back at the College soon. 

Meg Black (2010)
Old Collegians Association President

As I write this article, I look through my office window from Strowan House and see the big yellow excavator taking down the last pieces of the old Theatrette, making way for the exciting new Gough Family Theatre. It is amazing to think that we will have a brand-new facility in 18 months, which will be the hub for many Secondary and Preparatory School students who take part in a wide variety of cultural pursuits at the College.    

As many of our live College events and reunions have had to be rescheduled or re-imagined, it has allowed us time to look at what is working well, and areas that could be improved. 

Introducing StAC Connect! 

One of our goals last year was to use the tried and tested LinkedIn online platform to increase the connections and engagement between the Old Collegians and the College. It is primarily used for professional networking and career development. Lisa was tasked with increasing the connections twelve months ago which was sitting at 533. Twelve months later, and with her excellent detective skills, we now have 1400 Old Collegians connected, which is a fantastic result.  

This provided us with a great opportunity to launch StAC Connect this week, a private group attached to our OCA LinkedIn page. In the spirit of Old Collegians connecting, StAC Connect enables alumni to share their professional and personal experience and expertise with existing Old Collegians. These connections will help prepare and motivate our young Old Collegians for a successful future. We are pleased to announce that within 24 hours, we have around 300 of you who have already seen the benefit and joined the group, so thank you!

Our aim is to also roll this service out to our Senior Year 12 and Year 13 students via our Careers Department. We see this as a pivotal tool to help facilitate career connections and professional development within our St Andrew’s College community for those needing advice, and those who are willing to share their experience and expertise. 

How you can join our StAC Connect Community? 

If you are a LinkedIn member and would like to be part of this, please email oldcols@stac.school.nz and we will connect you to our private group. 

Miranda Newbury  
Director of Development