The following is a copy of the speech made at the assembly on Monday morning.
We have just seen a great presentation concerning the real meaning of Eddies PRIDE. The words used such as honouring, reflecting, contributing, investing and striving cannot be just words. Words without action mean absolutely nothing.
These are challenges which every person in the room needs to prioritise and instil into his or her decision making. Thank you to all involved with this initiative and the research base behind it – most especially to Ms Gair, Mr Monagle and Mrs Wilson.
Now, on a different note, I stand before you this morning as the 2020 College Captain in my first captain’s address of this year. I thank my peers in Yr. 12 for supporting me to be in this position. I also thank the boys throughout younger year groups who have made comments in support of me.
The reality is that every one of you is no different to me. You too, are all leaders. Not all leaders make speeches – and – indeed you do not have to wear a badge. I guess this means that being genuine is important. It means that we all share a responsibility to both lead and support each other – that means ALL of us. Year 4 through to Year 12. At the same time, being of service to others is also important. Service I believe, along with a sense of PRIDE in serving – will see our community become an even better place than it already is.
During the lockdown caused by Coronavirus, we all dealt with change and with things being different in many ways – some good, some bad. We all said to ourselves “I can’t wait for things to get back to normal!” Now – slowly, things are getting back to normal. Recently, things have changed, and it seems like the entire world has changed. Through a period of such radical change, St Edmund’s has continued to remain our constant. Our teachers and support staff have remained the same – caring for us students, serving us students and doing so quite often by putting us before themselves. On behalf of all the current student population – we say thanks to you all.
As we enter the final semester of 2020, I look forward to leading us to a successful end of the year. We need to make sure that this semester will be characterised by hard work, good spirit, service to each other’s and most importantly, pride in everything that we do.
Thanks boys, Edmunds to the fore.
Sam Gibson
College Captain