Hello everyone, welcome back to Term 3.

My name is Zara Ward and I’m your Ballard Prefect for 2023.

The last five years at Queen’s have really pushed me to be a better version of myself. Never in my life would I be thinking of doing another speech in front of people, however, here I am. My many experiences at Queen's have helped me by pushing me to have confidence in myself, to have strength in my decision making and guiding me to be an independent strong young woman.

The following three attributes have all contributed to finding my feet at Queen’s and have been the backbone to my successes.

Confidence

If I am being honest, confidence has been a struggle for me throughout my years and I have had to push myself to be out there and to stand up for myself which is all part of being who you believe in and what you believe in. Confidence would be one of the most important and strongest attributes that you need to push yourself through. To be confident you need to take risks, and push yourself out of your comfort zone. School is a major part of one’s life where you gain a lot of your confidence not only through yourself, but by being part of the school culture, relationships with friends and our teachers. Teachers have encouraged, guided and shaped me to be where I am today. Public speaking is not a strength of mine, however, here I am having confidence in myself and standing up here in front of you.

Strengths

My second point is strengths. This is all to do with the decisions and choices that we make. We make about 35,000 remotely conscious decisions a day. We are not always going to make the right decision or choice, but it is important to note that we learn from these. Bringing this back to our schooling, I've thought a lot about Queen’s and some of the decisions that I have made. I wonder if they were the right or wrong ones or if I should have tried better in a test or for an internal, however, in the long term, I cannot change the past, you need to live to your fullest, be in the moment and do it. Don't let yesterday take up too much of today.

Independence

My final point is independence. Being a strong independent young woman will hold you in good stead for many years to come. To be independent is empowering. To know that I can do things independently has contributed to me pushing myself to be better and to prepare myself for the years to come. I have been fortunate enough to be able to experience many sporting codes, to choose sports that I enjoy and push myself to excel in. These sports and interests that I have aligned myself with have all led to making lifelong friendships.

To conclude, Queen’s has not only given me a good grounding for the years to come but it has really pushed me out of my comfort zone. Confidence, strength in decision making and being independent have all played what I believe to be a major part in who I am today. I used to come to school, only looking forward to lunch, but I have surrounded myself with the things I love. I have found my people, the sport that I love and a love for learning. These all again lead back to those three key attributes: confidence, strength in decision making and independence.

Thank you.