On the evening of Wednesday 1 December, Year 10 gathered to enjoy their Charity Ball at the Crowne Plaza – Hawkesbury Valley. This night was a celebration of all that these students had achieved over the year, and also to acknowledge their efforts to raise a massive $8,500 for their Charity of choice, the McGrath Foundation.
There were various presentations during the night. Year 10 student Ethan Kambar gave a presentation to his cohort about the reflections of the year, his speech is included below.
“Tonight, I’m here to reflect and look back on what we’ve done as a year group this past year, and I have to say, we’ve been though quite a lot. We’ve had to cope with lockdown to lockdown, restrictions to even more restrictions, and due to this we didn’t get to do as much as we wanted to, but if we look past that, I'd say that in general, we had some good fun as a year group.
Earlier this year we had a chance to speak to the school’s alumni as part of CEP. This experience would have helped many of us decide what we want to do after we leave school, for others, including myself, it gave us a better understanding of the careers that we were thinking of being involved in in the future.
Then, after an excruciating lockdown that spanned the entirety of term 3 and almost half of term 4, we came back to school and got to be involved in Australian Business Week. For most of us, this week was a fun experience that helped develop team-building skills and other skills associated with running a business. Soon after this, we got to hear from various speakers on important topics such as financial literacy, the impact of drugs and respectful relationships. We also had opportunities to work on our team building skills.
Now we get to look forward. From what we’ve heard, these next two years will be frighteningly different to what we’re all used to. We’ll all be under so much pressure, not only relating to our exams but also relating to how our lives will play out over the coming years.
Let’s face it, our school life is quickly coming to an end, and for some of us it already has. For the people here who will not be returning to PAC next year, we want to thank you for being a part of this great year group and wish you all the best for next year with your plans. It feels like it was only yesterday that we were in year 6 watching BTN, and now, looking back, I've had a chance to admire the huge journey I've been through these past 4 years, what I've learnt, what mistakes I’ve made, and how I've overcome them.
Whether we like it or not, these past years have changed who we are, we have all grown, learnt and made mistakes. We have failed, persisted, and changed. We are not the same people we were when we walked through the school gates on the first day of Year 7.
I challenge everyone here to consider; How have I developed? How have my friendships changed? What have I learnt about myself? What have I learnt about others? What mistakes have I made and what have I done to overcome them? In summary, how have you, as a person, changed over these past years? And how can you take these lessons that you’ve learned, these values that you’ve gained and take them forward into year 11? I’m encouraging you to ask yourself these questions as you leave here tonight, and value the answers to them because I'm sure that I'm not the only one who believes that these values, lessons, experiences, and friendships are so precious to value now.”
Year 10 2022 have much to be proud of. They have learnt so much and will continue to do so over the next two years. I am looking forward to seeing them grow and mature through the opportunities and experience they will get to enjoy together during their senior years.
Miss Adele Crane
Director of Student Wellbeing
(Photo credit: Ryan Wilco Photographer)
