Intrinsically motivated

You have provided me with something I can never repay

This money was set aside for your Formal event, but you understood that there are others going without. The emphatic nature in which you all overwhelmingly agreed to give up your fundraising money was one of the proudest moments I have of this year group. Last week I was in contact with the principals of the regional schools where this money will be sent and the comment made by these principals was that you must be a special group. They are right.

Whilst this week is a fun end to your schooling, teenagers are often faced with adversity and when I would encounter one of you upset I would always ask three questions.

Are you alright?

Do you want to talk?

And most importantly, Who is your support person?

Sometimes you would share your concerns, whilst sometimes you would prefer to talk to your peers, but I wouldn’t leave unless you knew who you would use for support. Constantly I would hear the same names identified as support people - Donald, Veebol, Douja, Cheaky, Zac and a few others and I knew that you were in good hands. We are so lucky as a year group to have so many of your peers who are willing to give up their time to listen and provide support. To those people I named and to everyone else that has supported someone sitting beside them, thank you for the compassion and consideration you have shown for each other.

As year advisers, we also wanted for you to be confident. Confident in your own ability and strengths so that no matter what comes your way, you are ready to tackle each and every challenge.

We were blessed in year 10 when Phanouk joined our family. He brought with him an enthusiasm and energy that we enjoy each day. At Showcase, Phanouk showed us that year 12 students can sing both Cambodian love songs about flowers and death metal rock. Phanouk also had the confidence to control 1000 singing and dancing students in the rain at Harmony Day.

I love seeing the confidence of our Support Unit students, I remember Vincent and Manie break dancing as the Men in Black in year 8 at one of our year meetings. Every day these students along with AJ and Theresa have a smile on their face and it’s infectious.

Our SRC and Senior Leadership teams fill me with hope that our future leaders will be Confident, Considerate and Motivated. About 12 months ago I had a tear in my eye because of the way these leaders spoke and the passion they had for this school.  To our student leaders, thank you for being fantastic role models to the entire student body for the last 6 years.

Confidence is infectious and I have no doubt that you will leave here not just confident in your own ability, but also confident enough to get the best out of other people. Promise me that you will continue to celebrate yourselves and also the achievements of others.

In this role, I’ve spoken to almost every teacher in this school that has taught you at some point. Mrs Koloveros has taught almost every student ever to go through Cecil Hills High School when they do year 8 Italian.  What she doesn’t know about year 8 students isn’t worth knowing. I still recall a discussion we had when you were in year 8. Ms Koloveros spoke about you as a group and said, “They are such a kind and considerate year group - they have been the nicest group I have ever taught”.