Mount Sinai College unveils new campus
"THIS is architecture that says 'come in and meet the family'," Mount Sinai College president Anthony Berman said on Sunday at the official opening of the school's rebuilt campus.
“THIS is architecture that says ‘come in and meet the family’,” Mount Sinai College president Anthony Berman said on Sunday at the official opening of the school’s rebuilt campus.
Six years after the college ran an architectural design competition, and after a capital appeal and 18-month construction process, current and past students and parents joined federal and state politicians and communal personalities to mark the completion of the new, state-of-the-art facility.
“The college has celebrated tradition, reinforced identity and created a legacy for future generations of learners and their families,” Berman said.
“Everything really is designed to welcome and bring our Mount Sinai community together.
“We have evolved from one classroom in the back of the Maroubra Shule to what we have today. Our shule and school stand as pillars of community strength and unity for a growing population of Jewish families.”
Immediate past president Tim Greenstein, who was at the helm during the project, said he “felt blessed” to have had the talent and commitment of the college’s board.
“Without their energy and drive, this would not have been realised,” he said.
He also thanked the community, “who have given generously and supported the college with such obvious love and trust”.
“I thank the JCA for their continued support of the college and for showing the loyalty, faith and commitment to us throughout the building process,” he said.
Principal Phil Roberts echoed the sentiment, saying JCA “have worked with us and supported us every inch of the way”.
“It’s been an incredible story and journey,” he said.
“We are now telling our story like never before. Honouring tradition, embracing change. If ever there was a slogan that so captured the essence of what has been one of the college’s most outstanding and influential transformations it is this.
“As you walk around today, you will see that form has followed function. Our design is an architectural expression of a contemporary, relevant Apple distinguished school we have become.”
Kingsford Smith MP Matt Thistlethwaite, who as a child attended the preschool on the site that preceded the college, said “no one could have imagined” then that it would have developed into “this wonderful educational facility”.
“Mazal tov. Well done on the development of one of the first class educational institutions in our community,” he said.
“I think you’d all agree you certainly got value for money and the returns that that will pay, not only for the students but also for our wider community, will be tenfold for the investment that’s been put in.”
GARETH NARUNSKY
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