2021 Hall of Achievement induction

Dominic College held our annual Years 6-10 Awards Ceremony on Wednesday 24 November 2021 in the Savio Centre. Students receive awards and trophies for a range of subjects and nominations. Each subject studied has a student awarded, and all the winners are published in the College Yearbook. There are also special awards, for academic excellence in each year group and for Year 10 students in ongoing awards for Mission, Creative Arts, Sport and Academic Excellence, as well as Bursaries and Awards such as the GYC Bursary, the Caltex All-rounder, Rector's and Principal's Awards and the most prestigious Br Peter Dezani Award for Best All-round Student.

It has now become an annual tradition for two old scholars to be inducted into the Dominic College Hall of Achievement and in 2021 the College celebrated the contributions of Dr Tim Tenbensel (1980) to Academia and Sr Mary-Clare Holland OP (1966) to Community Service.

Sr Mary-Clare Holland OP is Prioress of the Dominican Sisters of Eastern Australia and the Solomon Islands, based in Sydney but visiting her Dominican Sisters all over the areas for which she has responsibility. Unfortunately, Sr Mary-Clare could not be with us in person as she was unable to enter Tasmania from Sydney. Sr Mary-Clare spoke to the assembly from Santa Sabina in Sydney where she recorded her remarks.

Sr Mary-Clare leads the Dominican Sisters to be ongoing vital women of the Church. A true servant of the Church, she has dedicated her life to service in Catholic education, pastoral care ministry in hospitals and leadership of the Dominican Sisters. Sr Mary-Clare was a student at St John’s Parish Primary School at Glenorchy, from the earliest days and of Holy Name from 1963-1966. She looks back with special fondness on her schooldays and was attracted by the lives of the Dominican Sisters who taught her. Sr Mary-Clare felt that she wanted to become a Dominican Sister. After a year’s further education at boarding school in Maitland, NSW, Sr Mary-Clare joined the Dominican Sisters, in 1968 and undertook teacher training in Canberra. She taught with dedication and service for 23 years in primary schools in Sydney, Brisbane and Newcastle, with 12 years as Principal.

Following voluntary work at Ankali providing emotional support for HIV/AIDS sufferers and after experiencing the sadness of deaths in her own family, Sr Mary-Clare undertook chaplaincy and pastoral studies and was appointed to significant pastoral roles at Bundaberg’s Mater Hospital and Santa Sabina College, Sydney. Her election in 2017 as Prioress of the Dominican Sisters acknowledged her expertise in structured-care environments, judicious administration and deep care for those journeying into the final stages of their lives.

The second inductee, Dr Tim Tenbensel, is Associate Professor of Health Policy at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He has committed much of his life helping to develop meaningful and academic research in public health policy, and teaching a broad range of undergraduate and postgraduate students, while supervising PhD students.

Unfortunately, Dr Tenbensel could not be with us in person as he is in Auckland and locked down. We thank his sister, Mrs Ingrid Howe who is also an old scholar who represented Tim and accepted the award on his behalf. He also recorded a message to our students and spoke about keeping an openness about the future: that the path for students was not set by any means, but the foundations of honesty, friendship and teamwork were present in the things they did at school.

Tim was the youngest in a family of children who all attended St John’s and Dominic College and enjoyed the academic challenges of school, peer friendships, music and especially the social outreach to the local community. After Year 12 Tim worked as a public servant and studied for a Bachelor of Arts at UTAS majoring in Politics and Sociology. He undertook a PhD in Political Science at ANU, Canberra. His thesis was ‘Values and green politics: a rhetorical interpretation of the role of values in green political processes.’ In 1997 Dr Tim Tenbensel became a lecturer at the University of Auckland. His growing interest in the workings of the health system brought him to the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences and a focus on the implementation of government health policy decisions. This included the introduction of hospital emergency waiting time targets and the improvement in access to primary health care during after-working hours.

Dr Tenbensel’s ongoing research in how the health system can respond to pressure, with improvements in organisation and outcomes is particularly relevant and important in the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Congratulations Sr Mary-Clare and Dr Tenbensel!