The Last Word

By Nathan Hill | Posted: Wednesday March 28, 2018

It was the 15th of May 2014, 3:25pm and I was lining up for my first ever 1500m race. Little did I know that this race would be one of my greatest ever failures.

At the time my family and I were living in Stapleford, a small village outside of Cambridge in England. I was attending Sawston Village College and had put my hand up to run the 1500m at the local interschool athletics competition. I finished the race dead last. Not only this but I was completely outclassed. However, it wasn’t the fact that I finished last that makes me see this race as one of my greatest failures. It was the fact that I didn’t do any preparation, I didn’t use my time effectively and I had expected to compete. I had months to prepare for that race but I could only manage 1 run the day before. I chose to sit on the couch, eating cheap British chips, more correctly referred to as, ‘crisps’, thinking she’ll be right, instead of getting out there and putting the work in. I didn’t make the most of the time I had. In some ways I got what I deserved.

In the years since this race I have come to understand that making the most of the time I have leading up to a sports event or a school assessment, makes a huge difference. And I believe that this can be applied to my remaining time at OBHS. Myself and my fellow Year 13s have only 26 weeks of normal school left here. That’s about 130 days. I find this scarily short. However its not just Year 13s who are running out of time. To put it in perspective Year 12s only have one more athletics day and Year 11s have only got one more school fair. I am sure that everyone will find the end of their OBHS journey will arrive before they know it.

At school we are lucky to have such a great resource at our fingertips, that if we use wisely will enable us to be well prepared for when we leave. It is down to us to find the ways that we can get the most out of this short amount of time and all the opportunities on offer. For some people it may mean adopting a broad approach, trying out lots of different opportunities, inside and out of class, to find out where their true passion lies. For others a more narrow approach may be best. For example, if you already know what you are interested in or enjoy doing then perhaps aiming to optimise your performance in these specific areas is the best way forward. Making the most of the support the school can give you for your sporting, academic or cultural endeavours will definitely be a worthwhile use of your time.

However you chose, using the remaining time wisely here at OBHS will mean that you are better prepared for the future and whatever tasks lie ahead. I hope that none of you get to your start line of life after school and wish that you had made more of the time you have right now.

Lord Chesterfield once said, “Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it.”