CalCC changed my life: Duncan Webb
Student from 1984-1987
Duncan Webb was a foundation student at CalCC. He commenced Year 8 in the very first year the College offered Secondary education.
Duncan had not had an easy life. When he was a small child, he had lived with his parents in Papua New Guinea where he contracted a serious virus that left him with brain damage and also epilepsy. School life was hard for Duncan. He struggled to keep up and often found himself in fights with other students. He was different and slower than others which made him the target of teasing and bullying. This made him sad and angry and he would often fight back. He attended both regular state schools and also a special school but, wherever he went, he seemed to end up feeling unwanted and angry.
A friend of his father recommended Caloundra Christian College. It was here that everything changed for Mr Webb.
‘Once I came to CalCC, things changed. The other students wanted to help me. They became my friends. They would lend me their books and let me copy down their notes after class. I could never get all the notes written down in time and they understood that. That was a big help to me.
‘My teachers encouraged me and told me to keep my chin up because I used to get down on myself. But the best thing that happened was that I became a Christian. Pastor Steve McMahon from Caloundra CityLife Baptist Church led me to the Lord on 9 May 1986 and that changed my life forever. Later, the Principal, Allan Mullally, told me I needed to get baptised. Dad said I had already been christened but he finally agreed to let me be baptised. That was another great memory and a turning point for me.
‘CalCC was the foundation for me learning to accept myself. Before that, I was just down on myself. The teachers were my friends and I would go to Sunday lunch with the Pastor or Allan Mullally. I learned to trust people and that helped me right throughout my life. I honestly don’t know where I’d be if I hadn’t of come to this school. I was terribly depressed before I came.
‘When I left school, I became a butcher until I got hurt, then a baker and lastly I used to help out at Cobbler Bills. I am now on a disability pension. I live independently and enjoy playing golf.
‘If I could say anything to students would say, “don’t pick on people, learn to accept people the way they are and don’t judge them. You don’t know what they are going through”,’ Duncan advises.
‘Yes, this school was a life changing experience for me. For the better,’ he said.