From the Chaplaincy

Strength of the Team 

"A few years ago, a week or two before the VCE exams, I wandered into the Year 12 common room to find three students writing all their English study notes and inspirations onto the glass splashback for the rest of the class to brainstorm and add to. 

In the seemingly competitive VCE cauldron what a selfless act for the class team. What a great example of the Golden Rule - Always do for other people everything you want them to do for you. Matthew 7:12."

Seth Matthews, 2022 Year 12 Prefect, reflects on this aspect of Huntingtower’s culture in his Assembly address to the Senior School.                                                  

The Chaplaincy Team

Prefect Reflection

Individually, it is clear we can accomplish some amazing things. In the past few weeks alone, we’ve had students win some of the most prestigious debating awards in Victoria, break records at the EISM Athletics Champions meet and take home gold in taekwondo at the Gold Coast open. To me, this says that as individuals and as a school, we possess a key component of a team player - hunger. That burning desire to finish first on a racetrack, or more generally, the innate hunger to work hard to accomplish whatever it is you set your mind to, is evident in all these feats listed.   

While it is difficult to develop a strong work ethic, as I’ve learned myself, I believe that our results and what we manage to achieve year after year, demonstrate our refusal to be satisfied in doing the bare minimum. 

Maybe we’re all the most talented and driven people in the world, but I believe it goes beyond that. This leads me to a quality that I believe exceeds the importance of hunger.  A word you’ve heard in this Performing Arts Centre thousands of times, “kindness”, and at the crux of kindness is humility, the ability to think of someone else’s needs before your own.

I believe that the relationships we have at Huntingtower and the genuine desire there is for each other to do well is what defines us as a school. This environment of endless support that has been cultivated stems from the quality of humility and allows for talent to be extended by the people around us.  In my final year, I think I’m finally starting to grasp just how talented and unique the people I’ve shared the last 6 years of my life are. Although I wasn’t overjoyed with the idea of “group projects” or “passing the basketball to Oscar” at first, I’ve learned that this is a group that I can rely on and would prefer no other people to share my successes with. 

While school isn’t the easiest place to put aside personal problems of an incoming SAC or exam, all I can say is I regret waiting this long before reaching out to my close friends and attacking my problems together. Approaching these last few weeks of Term 2, I implore all of you to celebrate the hunger and humility you have already expressed so far this year and make it known to those close around you that you have their back, something which may seem already obvious, however you’ll find it often goes unsaid. 

Before I go, I’ll leave you with a quote from the coach of one of the most successful teams in sports history, Phil Jackson of the Chicago Bulls, which I thought encapsulates what I’ve been trying to say today. “The strength of the team is each individual member.  But the strength of each member is the team.”

Seth Matthews 

Year 12 Prefect