The Last Word

By Harry Humphrey | Posted: Monday August 25, 2025

We don’t have much time left.

Year 11s, you’re already in the tail end of your schooling career. Year 12s, some of you have already started to realise how close the end of your time here is. And Year 13s, we only have five more normal weeks of school left. Just five.

I’ve been thinking about giving a Last Word for months now. Over the course of this year, I had a few different ideas for what my topic should be. But as the weeks passed, and the time to speak came closer, one idea stuck: we’re all going our separate ways next year.

In just my little clique at school, there are boys moving to Christchurch next year, some staying down in Dunedin, some moving overseas, even one hoping to head to Auckland. That’s the story of just eight boys, in a year group of 146 soon leaving. I doubt this story will be the same for all of us—some of you will find everyone still in the same place after all this time, and for that I envy you—but for me, and for many of you in a few weeks, or a year, or two years’ time, people you’ve known for a third of your life will suddenly be gone. You might not ever see them again.

I won’t keep you too long, but I want to share a story. You’ve already heard me talk about how cool some of the things we got to do at Outward Bound were, but those things aren’t what stuck with me when I boarded the ferry home. I don’t remember each step of the tramps, or every time we changed sails, or any of the trees I planted; I remember the people I shared those experiences with.

I was only with Shackleton 718 for three weeks—and even that’s a stretch. Between the solo day and the brief time I was sick, I only spent 16 of the 21 days in their company. But those days were still enough to change my world. Spending all day, every day, surrounded by a group of people from different backgrounds, living all over the country, gave me a whole new set of perspectives to integrate into my life. We slept in the same room, ate at the same table, waited together for the same mail from home. I may not have liked everyone there, but they still felt like a second family to me when we finally parted ways and went home.

I share this story with you for one reason—and in truth, it’s not one you find in the story itself. Today, nearly a year since we first met, we almost never talk to each other. Despite our best intentions, despite promises that we’d keep in touch, and despite having all the means to do so, we just don’t. The time we spent together came to an end, and even though we tried to stay connected, we drifted out of reach—verbally as much as physically.

Look. The time you have at this school is coming to an end sooner than you think. Whether you’re in Year 11, living in the prime of your group, or in Year 13, just coming to the end of your time together, there’s one thing I want you to take away from what I’ve said: “Don’t get green skin. Keep contact.” – Tyler, the Creator.