Rebecca Garreffa, St Joseph’s College, Mildura – Mercy Jigsaw Puzzles
In the past 12 months, I have introduced a variety of Mercy and Catholic inspired jigsaw puzzles to the staff rooms across both of our college campuses. I stepped into the role of Director of Faith and Mission at St Joseph’s College at the beginning of 2024, and as part of this role, I wanted to focus on engaging staff in a social way, encouraging a sense of community and conversation, all whilst keeping our college vision in mind.
I was inspired by artwork we had around the college, particularly a piece titled “Guadalupe” by artist Jen Norton. I soon discovered she offered her artworks as Jigsaw puzzles, and so my mini project came to life.
It began by placing the jigsaws in the staff room, creating curiosity, excitement, and even dread (although this didn’t last long as the puzzles ultimately won them over). A sense of community was built as the puzzle began to come together, the first issue being one of practicality – how could we move the puzzle to use the bench space. Enter a wonderful woodwork teacher, who, like an elf in the shoe shop, produced a beautifully finished board, precisely the right size the very next day.
Then came the competition – could one staff room complete their puzzle before the other? Could the puzzle be completed before the end of term? Who would place the last piece? Who complained they “hate jigsaw puzzles” but were quietly seen contributing to the result? Conversation took place about the artwork, the themes, the level of difficulty, which puzzle would come next? The jigsaw puzzles brought people together, gave some staff members a place of quiet reflection, whilst also bringing about a fun way to collaborate.
I initially chose puzzles to link with Mercy and our college houses, McAuley, Xavier, Padua, Chisholm and MacKillop.
For more information please contact Rebecca.
