Head Students 2022
Well well well, here we are at the end of 2022 and what a year it has been.
It truly has been a year of ups and downs. The start of the year hit like a truck with various new difficulties, having our beloved hall vanish out of thin air, having some happyish campers take over our neighbourhood greens at parliament and students having to take more RAT tests than internals! It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows like we imagined it to be. This year may not have gone as anticipated, but we are proud of our WGC whānau for pushing through, adapting and thriving. So as mr worldwide says “this is for everyone going through tough times, Believe me, been there done that, but everyday above ground is a great day, remember that”
The start of the year went by like a flash. Before we could get some momentum, we were struck with covid in our school community. This meant it was time to channel our inner Ashlee Bloomfield. Working from home challenges become the new norm, including jerk or die competitions, baking challenges and a subway surfer competition. Luckily, events slowly began to start up in person again and the school spirit strengthened significantly.
This year we had REAL TEAL weeks, including activities such as a Wellington college vs WGC EXEC netball game, themed non-uniform days, jump jam, Fala Pasifika teaching of Samoan Language, students VS teachers games, a purple power panel, and the lip sync battle just to name a few. EXEC had lots of fun cooking up these ideas and we hope you all enjoyed them as much as we did. These events would often be fundraisers for our school charity, the Wellington Hospital Foundation where we raised approximately $13,000 along with 500 toys for the new Children's Hospital.
Ruby and I were so grateful to watch you all thrive this year. We were lucky to attend some incredible performances such as; Kapahaka, Poly club, Ngā Korimako, Unity night and various other cultural groups. In early August the student council diversity group and our community committee worked to bring to life an improved diversity week where there were food stalls, cultural attire and an informational panel displaying a variety of countries and cultures. We thank you all for celebrating yourselves and being proud of who you are , it has been so cool to experience all of the new events and clubs at school that are purely to showcase you, your culture and your heritage.
The year 12 and 13 balls thankfully went ahead after some hesitation due to covid. Filled with lots of dancing, singing and taking many photos it is safe to say that both were a huge success. We also are going to be able to hold the junior dances this term after all the delays! So hopefully all the year nines and tens are pumped for those just as much as we are.
It is crazy to think that over a year ago, we gained our first feature on WGCTEAMTEAL Instagram saying “Hi I’m Ruby, And I’m Alice, and we are your head students for 2022”. It feels like we’ve just got into the swing of things, and we are handing the light back on. We hope that we were able to keep that flame burning bright over the year, for all of you, and in preparation for our 2023 head students. It is fair to say that we learnt a lot this year. Whether it was figuring out how to walk and see out of the teal seal costume, or how to support an exec member that may need a bit of help. Over our five years at this school we’ve become resilient, hardworking, ambitious and most importantly kind. We’ve learnt to display Manaakitanga, Manawaroa, Ngākau Pono and Whakarangatira, but none of that would have been possible without the way WGC has shaped us as people. We have seen everyone in our year group become strong young adults in one way or another and we couldn’t be more proud.
We want to say our thanks now to everyone who has supported us through this journey to get here. Starting with the parents, Catherine and Adrian, Luanne and Eric. We quite literally wouldn’t be here without you. Thanks for driving us! But really, thanks for the constant encouragement, always being there for a hug and taking us to all of our many extracurricular activities. We would also like to give a special thanks to Ms Davidson and Ms Wilson who have been our amazing mentors this year, we figured many things out together and made everything work. All whilst having a bit of fun and taking far too many jet planes or chocolate fish from the office.
In many ways, we don’t know how to sum up this speech. Finishing it will mark the end of an era, which will always and forever act as a pillar in our lives. After standing at the edge and looking down at the daunting water for five years, the time has come to well and truly jump off the jetty. Wellington Girls College, you have become our second home, but not because of the school itself, but the people that walk through tiakiwai, brook, and pipitea from Monday to Friday, forty weeks a year. We are so fortunate to have found and created this family that we love at the school. So thank you. It means the world to us that we have the support of our WGC whānau. Thank you for letting us lead you through this year and we are so grateful for the amazing successors that we will hand the light to.
So as our final message to you all, we want to do one final quote from one of our favourite English close viewing movies ‘Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
