The St Sebastian Fellowship is an award of merit bestowed by the ACC upon any person whose service to the Association or member school has been exceptionally meritorious and long standing. It is a single award bestowed at the end of each year by the ACC and last week I had the honour of presenting the Award at the ACC Awards Breakfast to Mike Burgermeister, a dedicated and long-standing member of our staff here at Chisholm.

Excerpts of the accompanying citation are included below:

Mike Burgermeister began his journey and long association and involvement with ACC Sports when he was appointed as a teacher to St Mark’s College in Bedford in 1987. His passion and commitment to Sport and the characteristics that exemplify this award in Strength, Endurance, Perseverance, Courage and Justice, were evident in those first days and have remained unfailingly throughout, to this day.

Mike quickly became a very dedicated and reliable teacher of Physical Education and involved himself heavily in the College’s sporting programmes and activities. His experience and background from American High School sport brought to our Australian context were invaluable and playing baseball professionally and at the highest level here for some years added to his breadth of knowledge in the sporting arena.  

Through his time as a Teacher and Sports Coordinator, it’s clear that Mike has always led from the front. He was and still is, always one of the first to volunteer his involvement and to work for the good of students competing and enjoying their sport. He has always been a great contributor of ideas at meetings and for ACC generally, has coached tirelessly at every level across a number of sports including basketball, volleyball, softball, touch rugby and others. His presence has been prominent at school, interschool and inter-association level with Mike having managed the ACC All Stars Basketball team for a number of years.

The contribution however has not been limited to the field or gym. Mike has made a major contribution as an official at many events, especially in the last decade. Typically, this is often unseen as he will spend the entire time at carnivals in the Results Room, overseeing the challenging but vital task of ensuring that all is being recorded correctly.

He has epitomised everything that we would want to see at ACC and sub association sport – complete dedication to the students in his care and enjoying sport in the spirit.

On behalf of everyone in the College community, we congratulate and salute Mike on receiving this prestigious and very deserving award. 

Mr John Bormolini
Principal