College Leaders

College Leaders 2009

Mr Tim Ford, Mrs Sally Buick, Adrian Papamiltiades, Haimish Rix, Andrew Lombardo, Dean White, Mr Steve Young Seated: Daniel Stow, Timothy East, Jake Stewart, Mr Peter Riordan, Xavier Fitzgerald, David Hutchison, Matthew Briglia

(Extract from Jake Stewart’s speech to the College Commmunity at the final assembly) Today is a day that we have never been allowed to forget was coming. Our last day of school. The final frontier to which every preceding day is said to be an obstacle. But being here now, it seems that those so-called obstacles are what make this day so special, so unique, so joyful, and so hard to come to terms with. With me are an astounding group of men — a group with whom I have had the honour of spending my days at De La Salle — a magnificent array of some of the most unforgettable people I am ever likely to meet. With them, I have shared every experience at this school — every assembly, every controversy, and every day patiently awaiting the first case of Swine Flu to be reported. That is what makes this day such a bizarre one. Because it is the last in a long line of days that I’ll get to share with these men; my companions, inspiration and entertainment, for the past six years of my life. As many of you are painfully aware, this place can be incredibly intimidating. Like most of you, we began Year 7 confronted with almost a century of history echoing through a labyrinth of hallways that all seemed to lead in the wrong direction. But in time, as names were learned and ice was broken, everything changed. The school became a home. Once, school seemed like little more than a stage upon which we attempted to maintain dignity, until we got up to say the prayer and forget that stuff we say at the start of it, or somehow manage to fall up the stairs while going to collect an award. A long time ago, I once imagined my peers to be a critical audience, waiting for the next person to slip on the wet floor, or for the next word to be mispronounced. But it turns out, things are much more fun when they don’t go perfectly. I know that there is no greater a lesson than that of the value of friendship. A lesson every day at this school has taught me. To every student here, remember that this day will come, as it now has for us. And when it does, it will matter only as much as every other day has before it. And if you get up every morning, prepared to open yourself up, to commit to being exactly who you are, and to thoroughly, repeatedly, embarrass yourself, you will be spending your last day amongst a group of people you won’t want to say goodbye to, but more than ready for the world waiting beyond the school gates. I have come to see school as a “pressure-cooker” of forced intimacy, while a good friend can be quoted as calling it “a train wreck in good company”. Regardless of your view, I know one thing to be true: it will see the creation of some of the strongest friendships you will ever know. So get to know them. And now to the men with whom I’ve shared my secondary school life. There is no way for me to accurately describe how profoundly grateful I am to have spent this time with you. Just know that it has been a privilege. I have been forever changed because of every day lived by your side. From knowing that no matter what happened in that big scary world into which we’re about to be thrown, I could always turn to you, my friends, my brothers. It is because of what De La is, that we don’t want to let go. But it’s because of what it has done for us, that we are ready to. And so with one word, we leave you. Grateful for how you’ve changed us. Better for having known you. Proud for having led you. Lucky for having lived beside you. And never to forget what it means to be Lasallian. With one word, we leave you. Goodbye.

Jake Stewart College Captain