SLC - Student Voice
Term Four with the SLC
Welcome to a new segment in The Herald that gives the opportunity for a student from our SLC to share reflections on the term that has been.
Celebration Night Address
By Elizabeth Sexton and Esther Sharpe
“Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes,
but when you look back everything is different.”
For over a decade, we have all shared a common journey of growth and education. It may seem to us now that we’re the same people that started this journey, but as C.S. Lewis rightly put, ‘looking back, everything has changed’.
My name is Elizabeth, and my name is Esther, and on behalf of the graduating Year 12 cohort, we would like to offer a reflection on our time at LCS, the memories we’ve made, and the many things we’ve learned along the way.
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We began our journey together back in 2012 when we spent our days playing house, doing obstacle courses and lining up impatiently to have a turn on the coveted two-seater tricycle. We were quickly relocated to the old drama room in the back of the now demolished PAC, which became our home, or as the older kids saw it – a viewing pen for the Kinders.
The rest of early Primary School saw us learning maths and spelling, although most of our time was taken up by speedily digging to the bottom of the sand pit, racing against the clock, only to have the hole filled in by the maintenance staff overnight. In these years, our friendships were put to the test playing sprout ball, octopus and fruit salad during sport lessons, and in daily PE with our seemingly elderly Year 6 leaders.
When we finally entered Year 6 – turning the very age we though was so distant to us – we experienced many things for the first time as we became school leaders and experienced our first camp away from home. The sense of community given to us by our teachers has set such a high standard for our friendships and connections today.
We learned so much in Primary School which became the foundation of who we are today. Most notably, how NOT to be impaled by a javelin, how to make the most of our sometimes unfortunate assigned seating, and how to create artistic masterpieces, or in some cases, to follow Youtube art tutorials reeeaallly well.
***
High School brought with it many of our current peers and saw us literally grow to great heights (some more than others) as we were introduced to the revolutionary and historically celebrated ideas of homework and… referencing.
Switching to online learning (or as some saw it – bonus holidays) in the middle of Year 7 was definitely an experience which shaped our relationship with, and dependence on technology, as well as our supposed knowledge of how to be hygienic. This translated into copious amounts of deodorant filling the locker room by Year 10, and yet an unexplored ecosystem probably still growing in the microwaves and sink.
Camps were a highlight of our High School experience where, despite not being at school, we learned important life skills such as how to stop a tent blowing away with you in it, and supposedly gained civic and historical knowledge (although how much we retained is entirely dependent on who could stop talking long enough to listen).
Our years in college have certainly been an experience as we faced new challenges and expectations. While some of us used our time to the best of our advantage, others among us focused on learning how to get the best bargain at KFC and get back in time for class.
All this aside, Year 12 has been a profound blessing for all of us, as we could finally pursue subjects we enjoyed rather than just the subjects we needed, and as we were reconnected to our peers by the common thread of graduation.
***
Being a part of such a rich, community focused Christian education has been such a blessing for all of us, and having the opportunity to undertake this journey with many of the same students and staff as we had in Kindergarten is something which not many people get to experience.
As much as we have grown and matured independently, we would have arrived nowhere over these last 14 years, had it not been for some very important people who we would like to thank:
To our teachers and the staff at LCS.
The support and respect you have shown to us over our whole schooling, and especially this year, has been irreplaceable, and we simply (and literally) could not have completed this journey without you.
And to our parents.
We thank you for standing by us and paving the way for our time at LCS by choosing to place us in such a loving, faith filled environment. Although we may not always seem appreciative, be assured that the sacrifices you made to get us here have not gone unnoticed.
***
Over the years, the one thing that has remained consistent in our schooling is growth – whether that be physically, spiritually, or (hopefully) academically, we have all changed a great deal – whether we can see it or not. C.S. Lewis was right when he said that “day by day nothing changes” because when we look around at the graduating class of 2025, we can still see the hopeful, relatively tiny and endlessly curious kids we grew up with. It is only when we look more closely, that we realise how much our peers have grown and flourished into a group of outstanding young men and women.
“Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes,
but when you look back everything is different.”
While everything might be different now, we can’t grow unless we change, and as we open this next chapter, we must remember that the Lord has a plan for each of us – changing us for the better as our lives continue to be transformed through him.
So, on behalf of the graduating class of 2025, thank you all for walking alongside us on our journey, and to our peers – we did it!
Year 11 & 12 Dinner
What a night we had at our dinner on Thursday, November 28 at The Boathouse! Here are a few photos of the Year 12s arriving...
