Class of 2024

The Class of 2024 celebrated the end of their school journey in great style. The school community farewelled them with a breakfast, dress ups, and a guard of honour.

Valedictorian speech 

“Coburg High's got pluck” 

Hello everyone, I hope you're all having a good evening. 

It’s a real honour to be here on Wurundjeri Country, as this year’s valedictorian, standing in front of the class of 2024, our parents and families, friends and carers, teachers and members of the Coburg High community. 

My family has a long history with Coburg and the school. 

One of my grandmothers grew up in the back of a milk bar on the corner of Sussex Street and Bakers Road. 

One of my grandfathers protested against the death penalty, outside Pentridge Prison, ahead of the last ever execution in Australia in the late 60s. 

A few years later, my other grandfather finished as a student at Coburg High. His parents immigrated to Australia after the horrors of the Second World War and re-established their lives in North Coburg. They sent my grandfather and his siblings to the old Coburg High School – on the other side of Bell St. 

He tells me that his Coburg High years were some of the best of his whole life. That he adored every day of it. Though I suspect he might be exaggerating just a little, as in his final year at Coburg High, just before his year 12 exams, he was expelled – or, as he prefers to say, “provided with limited access” to the school – and had to sit his exams at a different venue. 

A cautionary tale, perhaps, considering we’ve also been warned about the same thing 50 years later! 

Hearing how affectionately he remembers Coburg High got me thinking: What will our year remember in half a century? When we look back – if we look back – will any of us say we adored every moment of high school? 

It’s hard to imagine that right now, when so many of us are ready to move on.

But when I think about our year level, what stands out for me are two things: 1. We always come together when it counts, and 2. We find a way to have a good time no matter the circumstances. 

For example, in Year 9, a City Camp replaced our cancelled Tassie trip. While it was shorter and we stayed at a hostel in the city, we probably had more fun anyway. 

I remember how great the Year 10 formal was. 

The freezing mud-run on the Year 11 camp was also unforgettable. 

At swimming carnivals, our year excelled at the event with the most potential for fun – the great ball scramble. And we’re still showing how to have good times, from the parade this morning to our graduation evening tonight. 

Despite our apparent cohesion as a year level, everyone’s journey has been unique. We’ve all had different experiences of high school. We’ve each had to find the space to be ourselves, and discover where we fit within the school community. 

For me, that meant cramming in as many extracurricular opportunities as possible. It started with the Year 7 extension and enrichment program. By Year 9, I managed to convince the school (and my parents) to let me apply for a place in a whole-term extension camp. I went alone, out to somewhere in western Victoria to live and learn with a fresh group of other students from schools across the state. 

This year I took up another extracurricular opportunity, enrolling in a first-year university subject which formed part of my VCE. This made Year 12 both more challenging and more interesting. 

The Coburg High instrumental music program, particularly playing in the jazz band, has been a significant part of my experience of the school. Music has always been a big part of my life, but the fun of playing with friends really started with taking up the saxophone at the beginning of Year 7. 

Though I didn’t study music as a subject in Year 12, this didn’t stop saxophone lessons. We have amazing music teachers at Coburg High. I've had the privilege

of learning from three over the years: Cheryl, Andrew and Jo. Shout out to the rest of the instrumental music team too, particularly their lead Luke Mcivor. I’m not the only one who has loved playing with the Senior Jazz Band – at our Jazzlab concerts, at open days, at end of semester concerts and the ‘Coburg on the Green’ event. (We have one more of these at the end of this year, hope to see you there!) 

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Back when our cohort started at Coburg High in 2019, there still wasn’t a full school, just years seven to eleven. The school itself has been a work in progress while we've been here, and it still is. 

Mostly, we’ve managed to work around any lack of facilities. A friend from another school loves coming to our musicals and all the many concerts. She’s always impressed by the creativity, and has said: “Coburg High’s got pluck.” It is meant as the highest compliment. That we're unafraid to put ourselves out there – and it’s absolutely true. 

With the school set to gain new facilities in the coming years, future students will have even more opportunities to customise their studies. I also hope they maintain the same sense of "pluck" that has defined our time here. 

(Though, hopefully, they won’t have to relocate their VCE exams and lockers to accommodate construction!) That said, the new space dedicated to Year 12s this term has been an improvement. No complaints on that front. 

The school's character probably comes from the fact that Coburg High is so deeply rooted in the local community. The Coburg community has championed this school – fighting to get it off the ground and supporting its growth. This same community also fought to keep the outdoor pool open – the pool where we hold our swimming carnivals (and great ball scrambles). It’s also where my grandparents swam when it first opened, and where hundreds of Coburg High students cool off in the summer. 

I know because I supervise them as a lifeguard!

There are 1300 students at Coburg High now, and we’re inescapable around Coburg. Head to Pentridge, and you’ll find students working or just milling around, mostly being positive members of the community – though occasionally “acquiring” things from Ritchies. 

Go to the cinema, and you’ll always run into someone from school. The cinema hosted our fantastic Burgfest last week! And of course, at the pool it’s no different. In a fun role reversal, I often supervise Gary while he swims laps. I can confirm he mostly follows the rules. 

Before I wrap up, it’s important for me to thank a few people. 

First, to our teachers, both in VCE and before – thank you for guiding us and for putting in the extra effort to help us get through. You may not think we notice all the work you put in, but we do, and we appreciate it. This extends to all the staff and school leadership too. 

Thank you in particular to our SST teams over the years, especially the senior team this year David, Katherine, Donna and Christina for making Year 12 run so smoothly. 

To our parents – thank you for your unwavering support over the years. Thanks also to all those families who have helped out in whatever way, from School Council to Parents Association and all the committees, working bees and other times you have pitched in. 

I also want to thank my own parents. Throughout 13 years of schooling, they’ve always supported me. 

Because I’ve focused on academics, people often assume I’ve been pushed to study hard, but that’s never been the case. If anything, my parents have urged me not to study too much. They’ve encouraged me to balance my life – to go to parties and stay up past 10 pm (even though that is still hard for me). 

It might be an unpopular approach in some families, but to my sister Frankie and me, my parents have always emphasised the importance of enjoying life, even this year during the intensity of Year 12.

So, as we near the end, I encourage all of you to take a little of that advice – find your balance. Yes, it’s time to focus and lock-in with a week until exams, but don’t forget to take care of yourselves and enjoy the little moments along the way. 

Maybe let’s don't, as my grandfather did, have a clash with the principal in front of a rather large audience. 

But hopefully, like my grandfather, we have found some lifelong friends here – or at least have some stories that get better with each telling. So while I can’t yet say that “I adored every day of high school”, I will miss how comfortable I am here and how familiar this school and everyone in it has become. This sense of belonging is something I will take with me. 

Which brings me to the class of 2024. Thank you. You’ve made these years far more memorable and entertaining than I ever expected. 

Congratulations to everyone who has already finished. 

Good luck to those starting exams next week. 

We’re almost there.

Peppercorn Taylor 22 October 2024