The Last Word

By Flynn Wilson | Posted: Tuesday July 23, 2024

Hey boys. First of all, can you all stand up please. Thanks, OK, sit down.

Anyway, 5 days ago I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted my Last Word to be about. 

I had ideas of what topics I wanted to preach, like recognising opportunity, having confidence, taking chances, friendships. There was a whole list. 

Yet I could never pick just one. I mean, I’ve spent 4 and a half years at this school and in that time so much has happened.

So instead, I want to do my Last Word on my time here at OB’s, what I’ve learnt, and I guess what I would do differently if I could repeat this whole high school thing over again.

OK

Year 9

It was 1,639 days ago, or as many of us in Year 13 would remember - day one. This was our first day of high school. No longer was I stuck in the kiddy pool, with my old buddies from Balmac. I was at the “big boys school”, and what’s worse was my best mate went to Trinity. I was now in this new environment surrounded by towering seniors, huddled in the little group of Year 9's, and to be honest, I was terrified.

It wasn’t until term 3 that I actually made some new friends. As I had spent all my previous lunches and breaks gaming with my mate from Trinity, instead of, you know, socialising. Because of this, I didn’t really find my crew until very late. And this was probably one of my biggest regrets I've had during my time here. 

Year 10

It was now 2021, and I feel like I was getting used to this whole high school experience. I had a friend group, and my academic results were sitting in a good space, and it wasn’t long before we had 10B’s, Year 10 camp. This was probably the high school experience that I was most looking forward to. Although it rained almost every day, it was still awesome to learn more about my classmates…  like who snores! It was also the first time I’d ever been white water kayaking. I think camp is where I gained lots of confidence and it is still one of the prominent memories I have of my time here.

It was term four that year that I joined our school rowing team as the only Year 10 novie. Regardless, this was probably the first sport that I had felt a real commitment to, as something that pushed me to levels that I’d never been to before both mentally and physically. Sure, I was by no means anywhere near the greatest rower, as many of you know, but it was something that I really came to enjoy, and it taught me a lot about perseverance. This was short lived though, as I dropped the sport the next season, which is another one of my many regrets. 

Still, Year 10 was the year where I learnt a lot about myself, and had actually branched out a bit more socially.

Year 11

Boom! Crash! That was the sound of my grades, as they plummeted. I had gone from a reasonably decent student, to being a subject to the cruel new world of NCEA and it had come to bite me on the bum. I had become too complacent, and I didn’t have an idea or goal of what I wanted to get done that year. As a result my effort in school became slack. I’d dropped a sport that I loved, I wasn’t participating in class, and because of this many aspects of my life went down the drain. It was in term one of that year where I had earned my first ever Not Achieved, mum was not impressed. Aside from that, there isn’t much else to say about that year. I felt like I was falling behind, and I had to make a change, and soon.

Year 12

I think this year was the definition of ‘new year, new me’ and boy did things change. I came into this year with a goal in mind, and an idea of what I needed to achieve, which was to have Level 2 endorsed with Excellence. From talking with my form teacher Ms Irving, I formed an idea of how I wanted to achieve this. 

To sum it up, this plan sucked. I hated every minute of every day, because I spent most of my time studying. Sure, it felt amazing getting those grades, and with every internal that passed, the yellow segment of my portal pie chart only got bigger, but I can tell you that I was overworking myself, and most of the internals I submitted, weren’t as concise as they could have been. Heck, at one point I handed in a 25 page graphing internal for maths, something that only required around 7.

Although I was pushing myself that year, and getting the grades I wanted, it left me very drained, and burnt out. Something that all together could have been avoided, if only I read a marking schedule. 

It was later in the year that Mr King presented me with the opportunity to take part in the BLAKE Inspire programme. This was a five day leadership camp with an environmental slant, where students from around the country came together to work on and learn about global environmental issues and the effects they had here in New Zealand. Before I went to this camp, I didn’t know much about this programme. So I took a chance, applied, and to everyone's shock, I got a full scholarship. I guess proving what happens when you put yourself out there and apply for every opportunity regardless of the outcome.

Year 13

So, here I am standing before 489 of you, reading this mediocre plot summary of my high school life, yet this speech isn’t the only thing I've done this year. 

Relay for Life was one of the larger events that I organised, creating a school team and helping you boys fundraise and spread awareness for the Cancer Society. I also got to help lead our World Environment week, and then spammed the inboxes of my fellow McIndoe brothers, siking us up to donate the much needed food to our Dunedin food banks.

 

So what have I learned from my time here?

Well for starters, make friends, you are here to study, as much as it pains me to say, but getting out of your comfort zone and meeting new people is something you'll need to survive high school.

Find something you like doing and stick to it. It’s nice to have an activity to look forward to in the week to distract from the looming calculus homework. You might not be the best, but you enjoy it and that’s what matters.

Set goals for yourself. Sometimes school can seem like a huge load of pointless work, and until you have a plan, it is. You don’t need to know everything about what you want to achieve in life but as Benjamin Franklin’s quote goes, “By failing to plan, you're planning to fail.”

Finally, try new things. You only live once, and by the time you're ninety, your body will be too broken to go bungee jumping. Sometimes it takes a bit of confidence to take that new and different step, but that step could be something fun and amazing that you may never be able to do again. Take chances boys, it’s not every day you can make an entire auditorium stand up.