Hi everyone, I’m Abby, and I’m thrilled to be your academic prefect for 2024. Firstly, congratulations to those of you who received an academic blue award. These awards are earned from hard work and commitment, and you should all be proud of yourselves. I would also like to congratulate those of you who may not have received this award today, as I realise personal excellence is not necessarily measured by awards, or being the top of the class. I think it’s important to remember that success, including academic success, should be a personal feeling, rather than an expectation from others. By focusing on ourselves and practising discipline, we are all capable of achieving goals that we are proud of in any aspect of our lives.

I think that sometimes we see people excelling in one area, and think that that area belongs to them, we should leave it for them, to do what they’re good at. This is not true. Success is not just for the best person in one area. It is for anyone who wants to do well in that area. Being naturally smart, naturally athletic, or naturally social, while helpful, is not the key to excelling in these areas. There’s a valuable saying you might have heard, “hard work beats talent, when talent fails to work hard.” I think this is absolutely true. I think that the willingness to do well is, at the end of the day, the key to success. An example of this in my life was in physics last year. I knew that half of our exam was a paper on a topic that I couldn’t really wrap my head around. This was very daunting, especially considering we had to pass both papers in order to pass the subject overall. However, I knew if I wanted to do it, I could. So, I went to tutorials, wrote out notes over and over, and did every practice paper under the sun. I ended up achieving the result I needed, because I was determined to make it happen, not because I naturally understood the topic.

I think that skills such as resilience and hard work are extremely important academically, but can also be transferred to every aspect of life. I used to hear people say “you can do anything you put your mind to”, and, naturally, would brush it off and not really believe it. I have now learnt that believing in this comes from pushing ourselves and doing things that are uncomfortable. Pushing through times where we are making excuses or taking breaks where we maybe don’t need them inspires us. When I am most fulfilled in my life, it is often because I have completed something that I was hesitant to do or stressed out about. Doing things like this reminds us that we are capable of doing anything, and creates respect within ourselves. If we are able to focus on ourselves and our own goals, we truly can achieve the things we want to.

Finally, I would like to offer a little bit of advice that has helped me to work towards success. Firstly, I know we hear it a lot, but ask for help. I have always been someone who asks a lot of questions, and I think that it’s one of the best things you can do for yourself, and often others. Secondly, forgive yourself. Often I beat myself up after I spend a day being less productive than I would have liked, but this is not helpful at all. It is super important that we forgive ourselves, tell ourselves we can do better tomorrow, and then try and be better the next day. My last piece of advice sounds very cringe and possibly ridiculous, but hear me out. I am an avid believer in romanticising your life. This can be something as simple as cleaning your desk and lighting a candle to study, or packing your lunch in a cute little lunch box. Although it may sound strange, I find this to be the easiest way to find joy in mundane things and get excited about things we otherwise wouldn’t have wanted to do.

So, next time you’re feeling like you aren’t talented enough to do something, remember that hard work is a much more important quality than talent. And next time you are faced with something you think you’ll never finish, push through and think about the confidence and self respect you’ll gain when it is done. If you need help, please ask someone. Whether that’s your teacher, friend, caregiver, sibling, aunty, or dog. If you have a bad day, try and forgive yourself and work on it tomorrow. And if you are struggling for motivation, imagine yourself as the main character in a movie, seeing their life as beautifully as possible. Thank you.