10 & 20 year Welcome Back function – Class of 1997 & 2007

The function saw close to 150 collegians in attendance who enjoyed catching up with old friends and touring the College grounds, before continuing the festivities at various establishments around Canberra. From all reports the function and celebrations afterwards were a lot of fun.

All the photos can be viewed on the collegians’ website. We have been receiving more and these will be loaded as they are sent in.

The tours of the school led by the prefects were a highlight of the night. One tour even included an impromptu game of basketball in the gym. It was a surreal experience for collegians to be “playing basketball with the same people they first hit the court with some 15 years ago. We will be sure to leave the balls unlocked again next year!

It was lovely to see the genuine smiles on the collegians faces as they shared stories about old times.

Chris Meers (class of 2007) picked out a highlight even before he got inside: “hearing Brenton Kalisch’s laugh from 300m away when I first arrived”.

Fiona, the current principal, welcomed the collegians back to the college and Alastair, the Collegians’ Association Vice President, also said a few words about the new collegian website.

Collegians reminisced over the old photos displayed, all of which can now be found in galleries on the collegians’ website. Most collegians felt faces had not changed too much, and no one was unrecognisable.

Banter began in the lead up to the reunions where Facebook groups were set up to get in contact with old class mates; photos of year 9 camp and drama performances were the favourites.

Collegians came from all over the world for the reunion. Some that couldn’t make it hosted their own mini reunions in other cities.

One collegian returned from Papa New Guinea to attend, but sadly missed the night after breaking both his legs at the Placebo concert on his first night in Canberra. A quick Skype call saw him participate briefly and provided the class of 1997 a good laugh, which is what Nick Crean was known for at school as well.

Shane Dickson and Megan McCann in Vancouver.

Trent Clews-de Castella and Steven Kounnas with friends in Melbourne

The Students versus Collegians soccer match is usually played on this day; however, this year the Association is trialling holding the exhibition match at the fete to try to attract more collegians to the fete (and hopefully a better crowd). We are looking forward to this, our next event!