Good morning parents, staff, Mr Van Dyk, Mr Henderson, and of course, the class of 2021. Lads, we’ve made it. It’s been 6 years in the making for most of us, and we have survived high school.

We’ve all learnt a lot in this time, The Veritas Program taught us how to tie a tie back in year 9, Mr Morrison taught me that dollar signs don’t have two lines through them, and of course, we can’t forget Mr West allegedly showing us how to make explosives in chemistry. But in all seriousness, if we remember our tiny selves from Year 7, where we knew nothing about this big world—and giant campus—in just six years, the knowledge and wisdom we’ve gained from the tireless effort and care from our teachers is irreplaceable.

Every cohort likes to think they’re the best, but reflecting on the past year we’ve definitely made an impact at Aquinas. In sports alone, we’ve won Basketball, Water Polo, Cross Country and also Soccer for the first time in years. Scotch was the only other team to win 4 sports, and that was only by 3 points at the Athletics Carnival. We were also so close to winning the rowing this year, which Aquinas hasn’t achieved in recent years, not to mention how well we did in sports like Volleyball, Cricket and Footy.

We have so many elite individual sportsmen in our cohort. The dedication to what they’re pursuing is just incredible. And with that for me comes pride in being an Aquinian. We have football players who may be drafted, people like Ethan Wyatt-Smith running more than 75 km a week, and back-to-back Blackwood winner Marshal, hoping to make his basketball dreams come true. I’ve seen our skip of Aths, Baxter, be able to compete in almost every event. He’s also a national wakeboarding champion.

Beyond sports, our cohort has also been thoroughly involved in other aspects of the college, like the arts, drama and music—kids doing their thing. We had a debating team make the top 8 which is the best in years; we had two Year 12 teams make the Model United Nations comp, and I gotta give a shout out to the Chess boys for managing to win the state qualifier.

To the other 50 or so Year 12s that turned up to council meetings, thank you. Our leadership team is one of the most proactive in the state, and probably in Aquinas history as of now.

Jack O’Keefe, from his speech on presentation night, talked about the importance of community and finding your own community and when looking at our cohort I’d like to reflect on what I think is this sense of belonging that grounds our class of 2021. Whether we’re gambling with cryptocurrency with the boys from the Internationals or waking up at 4 am with the rowers, I think we’ve all found a home in our cohort community.

And I call upon that sense of belonging to extend for us as a cohort as we venture out into the unknowns of beyond high school. We’ve all been through this chaotic journey of high school together, we’ve all experienced the awkward Year 7 Sports social, we’ve all had to trek through the miserable weather during OLE in year 9, and we’ve all become true men after the Year 11 Encounter Retreat.

As we’ve taken our journey through high school, we’ve also learned to appreciate and admire our peers. I have a huge respect for the boarders, I couldn’t imagine being away from my family for that long, and I wouldn’t know the first thing about working on a farm which many of you guys do. I mean all I’ve seen is that video of Clay getting attacked by an emu.

Thanks to all the tutor teachers for being with us, through all the fun times and also the emotional times too during the Encounter retreat which we’ve all agreed to keep locked away in the back of our minds. I would also like to thank our Heads of Houses and Mr Van Dyk for making our high school experience the most fulfilling it could be.

We sometimes forget that the only reason we’re here in this hall right now is due to the sacrifice, the decision and the support of our parents to help us be here today. So, this is a special thank you to our parents, our guardians, our loved ones for helping us be here right now.

We’ve reflected on the past, thanked those who’ve helped be here in the present, and now, we need to look to the future. We have had our packs and our people at Aquinas, and as we move to different paths of life, whether that be uni, in the workforce, or in the sporting big leagues, I wish you all luck in finding your next group of people and your community.

Still, as we head into the unknowns of the future, it is important for us to reflect on the lifelong community that we have built here. Remember to never be a stranger to your fellow Aquinians of 2021.

Thank you.