“If you want something you’ve never had, you’ve got to do something that you’ve never done.”

Boys, what held you back last year? What stopped you from achieving what you wanted to achieve or doing what you wanted to do? Whether it was picking up a certain sport, joining the choir, or just raising your hand in class. What held you back?

Personally for me, I never really stepped out of my box to try new things. I only did stuff that I had already done before like playing rugby and volleyball but wouldn’t try anything new because of the fear that I’d make myself look bad. For example, during these past holidays I went back to Samoa with my family, and quickly after landing there at home I remembered that my Samoan vocabulary is not good at all. Because of that, I felt like I was being held back. Held back because of the fear that I wouldn’t be able to talk to the people I’d meet there or would make myself look bad while trying.

After a while though, I tried to do it anyway, just because I was sick of not being able to do something that I wanted to. From this I learnt that things like fear will always hold you back, and not confronting it will make you end up regretting not doing anything because of it.

Thinking back to last year, the same could have applied to you. Whether it was your grades slowly slipping throughout the year, losing touch with some of your mates or just missing out on something that you wanted to do, there was probably something holding you back from achieving and doing what you wanted.

For those of you who, like me were lazy last year and left their internals to the last minute or would chill on tiktok instead of studying for you exams. Let’s start this year different. Especially the Year 12s sitting here, this may be the most important academic year in high school and if you found that laziness or anything else held you back in your academics, then this year’s the time to change it. To solve this problem, we can start setting goals. Doesn’t matter if they are big or small, as long as they keep us focused and on the right track. But start now, don’t leave it until term two or when exams come around.

For the Year 11s stepping up into the blue blazers, what is it that you want to do and get out of this year as seniors? Whatever it is, don’t let things like peer pressure or fear stop you.

And finally, to the Year 13s, as the leaders of our school. Let's not let anything hold us back from trying something new in our last year but at the same time, let's enjoy it.

There will be times for sure where things like fear or laziness will hold us back from doing things that we want to do, and from what I’ve learnt so far, acknowledging those obstacles and overcoming them will help us reach our goals. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t let anything get in your way, there’s so much for us as seniors to do this year to be held back by something.

To finish, I’ll repeat the same quote I started with. “If you want something you’ve never had. You’ve got to do something you’ve never done.”