Mark Vodell
Not many can claim co-founding and directing a humanitarian aid agency as a “hobby,” but this is one about which Mark Vodell is passionate. My* Mission employs more than 30 teachers in remote villages and supports two orphanages in Myanmar. Students and teachers and students from Gilson College in Melbourne, where Mark is principal, visit the orphanages and My* Mission’s other projects to help in teaching English.
Mark Vodell: the 2014 Homecoming honour year honouree for 1984.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Victoria had planned to close Gilson the year—1996—Mark arrived. The then primary school with two small secondary classes is now a Prep to Year 12 college with more than 1000 students across two campuses.
Mark began his teaching career in 1985, at Carmel College in Western Australia. He would become head of the Social Sciences Department in 1987 and deputy principal in 1994. Between 1990 and 1995, he also moonlighted as a lecturer in economics and industrial relations at the South East Metropolitan Institute in Perth.
Work as a gravedigger and as a carpenter helped finance Mark’s study at Avondale College. He took three years off, initially to serve as a volunteer minister at the Carthage and the Monmouth Seventh-day Adventist Churches in Illinois, USA. Responsibilities included organising health programs, leading Bible studies—up to 14 a week—and preaching sermons. On Mark’s return, he found work at Omni Marketing Australia in Newcastle, for which he became advertising manager. The role taught Mark about sales and management.
Mark graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in secondary education and a Diploma of Teaching in 1984. He has since completed at Avondale a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, with honours, in education. The experience has “shaped my worldview, inspired an inquiring mind and created friendships that span the globe.”
Mark is married to Sharon. The couple have two sons, Luke and Joel.
The class of 1984 honours Mark Vodell for his commitment to excellence in Seventh-day Adventist education across Australia and in his missionary work.—Bianca Reynaud, public relations assistant, Avondale College of Higher Education
Tags: Class of 1984, Homecoming, Mark Vodell