SCHOOL holidays are often a time for students and staff to relax at home, but this wasn’t quite the case for an adventurous group from St Laurence’s College, South Brisbane.
The contingent of 52 students and staff embarked on a “Battlefields Tour” across Europe from June 16-30, visiting sacred sites where Australian servicemen fought, including the Western Front and Gallipoli.
Teacher Matt Warr shed some light on the motivation behind the unique tour.
“St Laurence’s has had a number of (old) boys that have fought in the armed forces,” he said, listing the Second World War, Vietnam and current conflicts as examples.
He said the tour was “a little bit of a tribute and also a learning experience for our boys to go and walk in the footsteps of these people that helped shape Australia as a nation”.
While visiting the significant sites was difficult at times, with constant reminders of the bloodshed and loss, Mr Warr commended the students for their “reverent, sombre and respectful” behaviour.
“The boys never ceased to amaze me with how maturely they could approach situations,” he said.
The trip presented many challenging moments and, for teacher Jodie Ringrose, the visit to Villers-Bretonneux was particularly “powerful”.
“It kind of hits you quite hard, the lives lost and all that happened there,” she said.
Year 12 student Randall Swain was moved when he witnessed the gravestones of soldiers killed in battle, saying it was “kind of hard to take in”.
“The boys were 18 and 19, giving up their lives for their countries,” he said.
Fellow senior student Connor Williams experienced a sobering moment during a service at Lone Pine, where he found a memorial of “a boy with the exact same initials … only a year older”.
“That was very confronting,” he said.
Students were provided with a reflective journal before leaving Australia, which included a list of key locations and their significance.
After visiting each site, “a lot of the boys took notes on their first impressions, thoughts, whether it met their expectations, what they’ll take from it”, Mr Warr said.
He said judging by the transformation seen in students since returning from the trip, it would seem the tour had a lasting impact.
“Some of the boys seem a lot more grounded … perhaps more understanding of what’s important and what’s not important in life,” Mr Warr said.
He also said the students seemed to have “more perspective on things and it’s great for them”.
“That’s what their parents have said to me as well,” he said.
Ms Ringrose said staff had received “some lovely emails from parents” about their sons’ time overseas, “how much they grew as a person, how much they learnt and how much fun they had”.
“It’s a moment in time they’re going to remember for the rest of their lives,” she said.
