It was a pleasure welcoming our Year 12 students and parents at the Leadership Conference Breakfast last week.  

Our Guest Speaker at breakfast on Day One was St Catherine’s Old Girl, Miss Susannah Guthrie (‘09) who provided valuable insights on her time at School and throughout her career. 

Including these four key pieces of advice she wished she had known when she was in Year 12: 

• It’s about the skills, not just the subjects. 
• Teachers are your secret weapon. 
• Say yes. 
• Say no in equal measure.

The Residential Leadership Conference at Ormond College, Melbourne University that followed Susannah’s Address, focused on developing an understanding of leadership as our Year 12 students prepare for the forthcoming year.  

It was a busy and productive two days filled with team building activities, yoga, presentations and a Q&A Session with St Catherine’s Old Girls, Madeline (Maddie) Powell (‘22), and Arabella Lewellyn (’22). All of which provided the girls with some very important and relevant take-home messages. 

The Conference provided the girls the opportunity to reconnect with each other at the commencement of the school year, enjoy a small taste of college life (albeit for one night), and most importantly, have a lot of fun together! 

There was certainly an enormous amount of energy and excitement when the girls were presented with their blue Year 12 jumpers. This is a rite of passage that symbolises the leadership of the cohort. The debate that ensued amongst the group in determining the Class of 2024 word for their final year, ‘NOW,’ really reflected the passion the girls have for their School and the legacy they will leave. 

At the Year 12 Induction Assembly last Thursday the Year 12 Cohort had the opportunity to share with the rest of the Senior School the 2024 word ‘NOW’ in a brilliant speech written by Olivia Hargrave (Year 12). Which with the go-ahead from Liv, I now invite you to read: 

Year 12 Student Executive, Olivia Hargrave

Raise your hand if you have or have had a dog! 

Have you ever noticed how unceasingly happy dogs are? Whether you’ve been gone for five minutes or five weeks, they jump and bark and make a whole excited ruckus as if it’s the first time they’ve ever seen you. That’s because dogs don’t spend their days obsessing over the past or worrying about the future. They, unlike humans, have mastered the ability of living in the moment, living in the now. 

Even as you’re sitting, listening to this speech, you’re most likely somewhere else. You might be thinking about something that happened last week or worrying about something someone said this morning. You’re planning who you’ll sit next to next class, trying to remember whether you charged your computer, hoping that your teacher doesn’t ask about the holiday homework. 

In other words, you’re everywhere but where you are right now. 

As humans we have come to live in a culture entirely hypnotised by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but a minuscule break between an all-powerfully formative past and an absorbingly important future.  

We have no present. Our minds are almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation. We spend so much of our time living in the past or dwelling on our future, that we do not realise that the only moment we can harness is the one we are living in. The only thing we can experience is the present moment, the only time we can begin to make change in, is now. 

So, as we start the new year, I, and the rest of Year 12, ask you to let go of any past mistakes you’ve been holding onto and to take a step back and allow the tensions around upcoming tests and what the future may hold to dissipate and to take a moment to recognise and appreciate the importance of the moment you are living in, the importance of now. 

For the new Year 7s, now is the time to embrace their firsts. Their first day, first early morning GSV training, first mad dash to beat the cafeteria crowd. 

For us Year 12s, now is the time to embrace our last firsts. Our last first day, last first all-nighter, our last first assembly of the year. 

Now is the time to thank your parents for the early morning car trips and packed lunches. 

Now is the time to extend an arm to a new face. 

Now is the time to buckle down and work a little bit harder. 

Embrace that inner dog, and as they do, recognise that each minute, whilst fleeting, is precious, so be sure to seize every opportunity you’re given. 

With this word we ask you, not to spend your life waiting for tomorrow, spend it experiencing today, start NOW.