The MAYO Report
The Mission Action Youth Organisation, or MAYO, is an Oblate Initiative at Mazenod College in 2008 and guided by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. It seeks to bring people into an experience of God, or more specifically, enter into a deeper personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Here is a small recap of our activities during the past year:
Aftershock
One of the most successful initiatives started by MAYO is the Aftershock Youth Group, led by Aiden Stewart and Greg White, based at St. Leonard’s Parish, Glen Waverley. Aptly named by Chris Chew, one of the youth leaders, it seeks to inspire the Catholic ethos within the hearts and minds of its attendees. It runs on a fortnightly basis, with games, presentations and music in abundance with enthusiastic leaders and participators. Special thanks goes out to a few Mazenod College teachers who have put in great amounts of effort to make Aftershock the success that it is: Ms. Tina Giacco, Mr. Joe Moore and Mr. Robert Zaar, and also to the NET Team, who have also contributed their talents and support.
Sprints and Retreats
MAYO runs quarterly retreats and sprints, which take place during the school holidays. Sprints are run at Mazenod College, and run for 1-3 days. They are a chance for people to get together and work on a variety of MAYO projects, such as 3D animations led by Paul Solari, the Connect magazine under the guidance of Mr. Joe Moore, or web development. Retreats are run as an opportunity for students to get out of their ordinary routine. They allow for a deep, spiritual reflection and a chance for the deepening of one’s relationship with Christ.
Rosaries
The Rosary making group has been successful in their goal of making starter kits for distribution to parishes and to the Oblate missions around the world. Led by Mr. Daniel Kelly and assisted by Gabriel Huynh, they have managed to create a hands-on environment for students work on a MAYO project.
Web Dev
The new MAYO website has been developed throughout the year, and our ‘talented’ server admin Tom Solari (Tech Support for AlfaHosts Web Hosting) has been working hard to get the various web technologies working (or at least he claims to). Our web developer Terence Huynh (Executive Editor of TECHGEEK.com.au) has gifted us with some of the most inspired work of his short web design career, and this has put MAYO at the forefront of web design. In addition, we would like to thank the Mazenod College IT Department, especially Mr. Ian Steel, for supporting all our technological needs.
MAYO Band
The MAYO band has come into greater fulfillment this year, as an invaluable addition has been made in the form of Lawson Kennard (bassist and backup vocalist for Somnium). By having another talented musician in the band, new heights have been reached in the field of Praise and Worship music. In addition, the band has utilized new platforms for performance, such as the program GarageBand on the Apple iPad to create riveting bass lines and intense string arrangements. An emerging musical group known as the Aftershock band has begun to take form.
Written by Michael Selvadurai