The Last Word
By Eddie Grant | Posted: Thursday March 31, 2016
Otago Boys’ students do not know how lucky they are. We sit on comfortable chairs, in a warm auditorium. Rather than wooden benches in a cold gymnasium, like most schools do.
We take for granted that we are able to watch rugby and cricket games from a grandstand and terraces, rather than standing crowded around the field. We walk through a beautiful memorial archway and follow the road up to a picturesque tower block. We eat our lunch in the Year 13 common room looking over at the best view in Dunedin, yet we do not treasure this. Instead, we will leave our half eaten sandwiches on the ground, and a microwave in such bad condition it is deemed unusable.
Otago Boys’ High is the best school in New Zealand, and it is imperative that its students realise this.
Situated above the city, for everyone’s jealous eyes to see. Surrounded by bush, exclusive to the rest of the Dunedin. Yet WE are able to come here everyday. We sign in and out of school in a castle building. We achieve our exams in the historic Shand. We learn in modern but fitting 3 storied buildings. Most days after school, I drive home along Queens Drive, the road above Littlebourne. And I stop for a minute or two and admire the view of Littlebourne, the nets, the grandstand, the Shand, the castle, the main buildings, the gym and the quad area. I firmly believe that we have the best school grounds in New Zealand. I challenge you to drive or walk across Queens Drive after school, to do what I do, to look over the school, and tell me that we do not have the best looking grounds in the country. I am not just saying this stuff now that I am head boy and have to say it. I have been saying this since the day I started here. Rather than driving, I would run or walk to Queens Drive and view the school. I also remember a weekend in Year 9, a lot of my family were staying in Dunedin from Auckland and Southland. I was so proud of how good my school looked, that I gave them a tour of the school.
We are lucky to represent the school in blue and white. These colours are not just colours. They represent the dominance of Otago Boys’ as a school. When we are walking through town in our uniforms, it is not like wearing normal clothes. We are representing the school as a whole. This is why it is so important that our shirts are tucked in, our socks are pulled up and our ties done properly. We want to represent a powerful kingdom sitting on the hill. Not a run down, empty castle. When we are seen in our uniforms, people think of Otago Boys’ outstanding history and reputation academically school. When seen in our sports gear, our blue and white hoops, people think of our incredible record as a sporting school. For decades we have dominated the region in the sporting world and we will certainly not stop now.
In the past 4 years while I have been at school. Our first XI cricket team has made the Gillette Cup 3 out of the 4 years. Our Juniors have won the national title twice. We have won the national basketball title. Been in the national top 4 for rugby 3 times. As well as multiple people claiming NZ championships in individual sports like swimming and cycling. This is remarkable, as a NZ title is an extreme rarity to most schools in the country. We have also won the vast majority of interschool’s, if not all of them.
People often overlook the cultural side of our school. Our school productions demand large crowds and are always entertaining. The school’s choir nearly always reaches the national finals. They also travelled to China last year to perform. In assembly’s we sing the school song with pride along with the haka.
But the thing that I believe to be the most important part of a school, and that makes our school better than any other school in New Zealand is the tradition. I recall the 150th anniversary in 2013 as if it were yesterday. Every day Old Boys’ would be walking around the school, wearing their Old Boy ties, watching the current boys perform the same traditions they did when they were at school here. The haka behind the posts in interschool rugby matches, honoring the dead by the reading from the book in assemblies, and celebrating our pupils academic, cultural and sporting success.
During the past weekend, in Christchurch for the South Island Touch Tournament, I have never been so proud of our school. We arrived to the ground in school uniform, looking as one. Whilst other schools arrived in mufti or sports gear, looking disjointed. In a row of school tents, ours was clearly the biggest and brightest. But what is even more important than how we appeared externally at the tournament –is how we acted and felt. While being on tour, representing the Otago Boys’, we are brothers. We arrive as one, get ready as one, warm up as one, play as one, and enjoy it as one. But also feel the pain as one when we lose, feel the heartbreak as one when we realize it is our last competitive game as a team…as brothers. You know you are where you belong when it hurts to take off the jersey because you know you will not be putting it back on.
But there is no point just feeling lucky to be here, at the best school in New Zealand. That would be a waste of a precious 5 years. Instead, feel proud of the school. Get involved in teams and clubs and feel proud in representing YOUR school. Spend an extra few minutes making your tie perfect in the morning so that you are representing the school well. Start noticing the small things about the school that you might forget when you are an Old Boy in a few years time. Notice the smile the canteen lady gives you when handing you your food. Notice it when someone does you a favour like holding open a door. Notice the perfect colour of the brick, which makes up the school.
I am lucky to be a student at Otago Boys’. I show this by having supreme pride in our school.
And I know that at 9 o’clock on a Monday morning, when I am given two 20kg weights and told to run around the quad. There are a million things I would rather be doing, but there is not one place that I would rather be doing it.
