It may be a sentence you have heard a lot recently, but this year has not gone exactly how we wanted it. Unfortunately due to Covid restrictions, events have been cancelled or run differently and our 2021 looked not exactly how we pictured it. Although this had a lot of us feeling hard done by that we couldn’t do the things the way we wanted we came into this year with the theme of a kaleidoscope which prepared us for it.

Coming out of 2020 we knew that things don’t always go as planned, and we needed to be able to work through change.  And so with this theme in mind, we were able to understand that change isn’t always a bad thing. The final image may be different from what we envisioned but it’s just as bright and just as beautiful.  We are extremely proud of our WGC family, who took on this change with a positive mindset and made the most of what we have and could still do.  This isn’t a time to dwell on what could’ve been, but celebrate what we did have - which is make it through the monster of a year that is 2021.  And Covid aside, this year has still been one for the books.

We were lucky enough to start the year off with our school athletics day, which ignited our usual house rivalries, and gave a dose of healthy competition.  We also had our Year 9 swimming sports, a netball game against Wellington College (which we won), our new teal seal got to have many moments in the spotlight, summer tournament week went ahead, Big Sing got the go ahead, our schools production “Enemy of the People” performed all it’s shows, Showquest happened, Tu Tagata happened, our Kapa Haka group got to go to regionals after 2 years of preparation, junior and senior drama productions got to perform and the 1st XI Hockey won their division for the third year in a row.  Looking back, so much was still able to go ahead and we are incredibly grateful that many things could.

In these past five years and the opportunities we have been presented with, WGC has taught us both so much, and has made us into the people we are today.  We have learnt to be resilient and that accepting help from others and working together, like a kaleidoscope, holds a big part in reaching an end goal.  To form the final image, all the little pieces must come together, and no one piece is more important than the other.

So as we say farewell, we’re glad we got the chance to give WGC the proper send off and thank you it deserves.  It’s done us good these past 5 years and we hope we were able to contribute even a fraction to the many wonderful things it brought to us. Although we are ready to move on, this was always going to be a hard goodbye. WGC has taught us so much and we will never forget the memories we have made within these teal walls.  It's bye for now from us, but not forever. Wherever we are in the next chapter, one thing is for certain. That is we will always bleed teal.