2026 Welcome Assembly 

The first day our full student cohort for 2026 gathered started with the traditional Welcome ceremony. Year 7 students were greeted with applause and cheers. 

A highlight of the assembly was Nicole Curry (Class of 2025) sharing her inspirational experience and attitude to her final years of secondary education.

Hi everyone! I’m so grateful to be here today. Thank you so much for having me!! 

When I picked up this phone call from Miss Dureau, I thought for sure I left a rotting apple core in my locker; so let's just say I’m pretty stoked to be standing up here. 

In the time between that phone call and this moment; I think this speech had about six different openings and now that I’ve said it I’m actually not sure I picked the right one. 

Because I didn't see nearly enough laughs at my rotting apple joke but that's fine I guess…

But in all seriousness, looking back on the years I spent here, I can say that I graduated from Year 12 with an experience at MGSC so distinctive and personal to myself, and I’m lucky enough to feel truly proud of the efforts I made here.

I think that is something really special to say. 

So, in the next lovingly appointed six and a half minutes I have to speak with you, I hope to encourage you to shift your perspective and allow you to make the most of all the exciting possibilities ahead of you. 

Despite my best efforts, a classroom is not my favourite place to be. I’ve actually always struggled with being told what to do or say, so the thought of going to university and writing yet another essay makes me slightly sick. But I’m here to tell you sincerely, that high school is the most uniquely special environment you’ll ever be in. and It’s so easy to just coast through school waiting for each day to end; but these years are too fleeting to be wasted just because you're too nervous about what other people will say when you give things a go.

My high school experience changed for the better instantaneously when I decided that school was not a jail, but a place to embody the most authentic version of myself. 

Rather than sitting passively, I decided to put myself out there, make new friends, wear my heart on my sleeve. It became a place to put my best foot forward, to be individual and really decide the kind of person I wanted to be. 

And I went to cultivate myself and my community of friends to be something real, something that I’m excited to be in- Rather than what I dread every morning at 7:30. 

When you allow yourself to be a part of these genuine moments, you can live and feel the light, and laughter of young teenage girls spending everyday together. 

By being receptive to exciting new opportunities and experiences, you can  reach out and grasp your full potential . 

These years are so special-school is genuinely a special place to be- With opportunities- you'll actually just never get again. By giving things a chance, you can foster a place where everyone you surround yourself with is individual, empowered and proud of who they are. And isn't that what is truly special.

These years are not a place to struggle through but a place to flourish. It is worth the effort of speaking to the person next to you in class because you get back as much as you put in. and to put in kindness and support in a school community is so vital, to ensure that when you encounter the inevitable challenges of school, there is a strengthened passionate and loving support of your year level right behind you. 

You will get infinitely more out of each school day when you stop aura farming behind a laptop screen. Be authentic! Be empathetic! Be a risk taker!

Be passionate about the book you're studying, apply the knowledge you learn at school outside of class, delete that stupid tetris chrome extension. Not just for the grades- but for the passion of learning and the exciting, fulfilling path to becoming a more vibrant, well rounded and interesting person. 

With this mindset at my core; Year 12 became something I gave myself entirely to. and that’s not to say I was studying five hours after school every night, because I wasn’t. 

What I did do was make an effort to laugh in every single class, to connect with the people around me- making memories worth remembering. 

I was engaged and involved deeply with my classes. I chose to make an effort with every teacher, rather than defaulting to “miss” or “sir.”

I joined the music program proudly, spent my lunchtimes cramped in M3 playing bass guitar with a student lead band.

I tried Year 12 Aerobics and went to Tasmania as part of the Nationals team. Both of which I had never done before that year.

I chose subjects that I wanted to do and loved every rewarding second of knowing that what I was learning- was valuable. And everything is valuable. It's not that learning TEEL body paragraph structure was necessary to me because it wasn't, and it's not that learning parabolas was valuable to me because I dropped methods the next year. 

But it doesn't mean that these experiences were wasted.

They helped shape the person I am today and gave me skills that only Year 9 English could offer.

I chose to give my best, unapologetically, and came to understand my own value and abilities as a person. That is what is valuable.

Believe me, the people who get the most out of school are those who live truly and boldly and brightly. Embracing the spark of teenage girls all around us, putting themselves wholly into what they do and love because what have you got to lose!

Please, please listen when I say this.  We are still so young- our future is wide open with time and possibility. 

Why not give your best to the things you do?  Why not see how much you’re capable of? 

Each and everyone of you is holding that spark within you and I promise that to embrace it is the most valuable thing you can do this year, and in your life. You’re only a teenager once. Go out and live it unapologetically with the vibrance and colour you deserve to give yourself.

I started last year with a goal in mind - to give Year 12 the best possible effort that I could; I ended it with a $100 voucher from winning the art show with an art final I was truly, exceptionally proud of, new friends in every of my classes and an 18th party almost every weekend. 

I ran every single track event at athletics in a luigi costume with a pillow stuffed down the front. I made it to district cross country because I decided that very morning to give it a go despite never successfully running a 3k in my life. I made it into the examiners report for sociology and I duxed three out of the five of my subjects because I just thought what have I got to lose? 

The experiences and fulfillment I got from shamelessly trying my best- got me further than any atar score or uni acceptance letter ever could. 

By shedding the ignorant mindset that makes us dread every school day- you can do things you never thought was in your realm of possibility. I just gave it a go.

Embrace the spark, have a good time because you can. Stretch your limits, push yourself beyond what you thought possible.

The world and school isn't made for you, you create it. You create the memories, the opportunities. You mean something in this school and in this world if you choose to.

You can spread love and support and happiness in ways you'll never expect. You'll attract goodness everywhere you go because that's the potential you hold as a beautiful, young person. That is what you have to lose. 

You can't sit in the back of class waiting for things to come to you because the world doesn't work that way. Get involved, be passionate for what you are learning and be yourself- Imagine the room full of unstoppable young people. 

Honour becoming an individual and someone to be proud of, and the world will open up in ways you never imagined. 

Nicole Curry (Class of 2025)