Ehara taku toa, he takitahi he toa takatini – My success should not be bestowed on me alone as it was not individual success but success of a collective

College Captain – Delane Luke

I would like to extend a warm welcsome to all students, staff, parents, members of the board and distinguished guests of the college. It is an honour to stand before you this evening and deliver my final speech as Co college captain of 2015, as the STC journey for myself and my fellow Year 13’s draws to a close. Firstly I would like to acknowledge my fellow co college captain Tovia Fui. This year was the first year for joint captaincy which we embraced with both great excitement and a hint of not knowing what to expect but sharing the college captain role with someone I regard as a brother has made the role all the more enjoyable. I am grateful to have had Tovia to work alongisde as we have navigated our way through this year together!

We were fortunate to travel to Australia at the beginning of the year to Bundaberg to an Edmund Rice leadership camp. Here we met college captains from all over Australia to help prepare us for this year to build our knowledge and skills, as well as stretch, provoke and inspire us. Together Tovia and I had the privilege to co-lead the college alongside an exceptional group of leaders and I believe it is the power of the team that makes a difference.

If you want to go fast then go alone if you want to go further then go together. (African Proverb)

I acknowledge our leadership team and their significant contribution. I believe that together we have gone further than any of us could ever have hoped to achieve by ourselves. Our unity as a leadership team became evident and our ideas became collective. Your work, support and friendship has made our roles as Co-captains easier and memorable, I thank you.

Tonight is a celebration to acknowledge those who have excelled, who have worked hard and that hard work is being celebrated. Excellence in many different forms is being recognized from Academic excellence, to Leadership, Sporting and Cultural. You have all worked hard so I congratulate you all for your hard work, perseverance and sacrifice. You are not lucky, luck has nothing to do with success, you have all worked extremely hard to be here and we are all here tonight to recognize and celebrate this. Although we receive our awards tonight it is also acknowledging there is a whole support system behind us all and I would like to take this opportunity to give thanks. To all the grandparents, parents, caregivers, uncles, aunties, sister and brothers that provide a network of support thank you!

Ehara taku toa, he takitahi he toa takatini – My success should not be bestowed on me alone as it was not individual success but success of a collective

Although tonight is a celebration we must also remember those who are no longer with us - a past student who was in our Year group our friend and fallen brother Troy Winter he is in our thoughts and our hearts and and was taken too early - we remember him.

So my journey began in 2011 but 5 years later I realise how blessed and privileged I am to be standing here delivering this speech tonight as Co-College Captain. Ever since starting I have had aspirations to be part of the leadership team. Being Co-College Captain has given me the opportunity to give back to the college which has believed in me, invested, supported, challenged, inspired, motivated and prepared me for life post school. I am both grateful and thankful.

So I would like to touch on the core values of STC, leadership lessons and the power and responsibility of legacy.

The value posters are a key highlight of what our leadership team will leave behind. The core values of the school are now visible they are displayed in poster form through amazing role models like Mother Theresa, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandala and Willie Apiata VC, their leadership is based on the truth that these leaders know who they are, and they have discovered their purpose and are driven by a passion for their purpose, they practice their values consistently and lead with their hearts as well as their heads and they promote our values of: Manako – Hopeful, Mana – Spiritual, Matapono – Ethical, Hinengaro – Conscience, Aroaro – Engaged and Makoha - Compassionate

I realise though more importantly to being displayed that these values are lived and expressed through the many opportunities and learnings that we have here at STC.

These values have been displayed in my time through:

The 2011 Feb earthquake and the partnership we forged with Catholic Cathedral College. This partnership became an unlikely source of teaching. It taught me the value of inclusiveness.

This year hosting over 30 Deputy principals from throughout Australia as part of the Edmund Rice Australasia Education collective and their commitment to quality education focusing this year on marginalised communities. To me this demonstrated the value of engagement

Partnerships have been forged locally, nationally and internationally for example our Schools cluster network, with Tuahiwi and Nga Hau e Wha Marae, the Edmund Rice Australasia Education and Catholic College collective. They have been formed on the basis of working to our strengths and the ability to mobilise collective impact to achieve our goals.

Global citizenship - The opportunities afforded to us as students to travel to China, France, Italy, Corsica, India and even Oamaru. The opportunity to experience other cultures and religions provides us with experiential learning and the appreciation and value of home is truly realised when you travel away.

Brotherhood – Our Inter house competitions provide us an opportunity to come together as a school under the umbrella of sports, at these events I witness great pride in our school and especially our house colors, students demonstrate competitiveness and sportsmanship, friendship and brotherhood.

These are some tangible examples that I have experienced and been part of and are the values and traits that have long been associated with our College. Whilst writing this speech, I realised that it was a time of reflection. Though it has become a cliché it isn’t until you think back on your time at the college do you realise how fast it has gone by. I realised our time here is about legacy and that each of us has the responsibility to uphold and continue the STC legacy - that we are all caretakers of this legacy that is handed down to each Year group to inherit.

Our role is to look after the legacy that has been handed down to us – the work that has been done before us and we have a duty to continue the work and uphold the mana bestowed upon us. This comes with great excitement and also a great sense of responsibility. It is however everybodies repsonsibility not just the College captain or leadership team….. everybody contributes to upholding the STC legacy. I have also learnt it isn’t about the grand gestures or significant events that we maintain a legacy it is lots of small things like being kind, service to others, being respectful, using your manners - simple but powerfully important values. And I have seen these values consistently displayed in many ways.

Tonight our tradition of lighting the candles will pass over to a new leadership team it will become their turn to continue, uphold and strengthen the legacy that future Year groups deserve to inherit: I understand now we only have that priviledge for a short while and I have cherished every moment as we now count down to our last prize giving, last house meeting and tomorrow will be our last mass.

Words can’t even begin to fathom the gratitude I have for the College, for it is the place that groomed me and shaped me into the person I am today. I realise that this has been a team effort! Throughout our lives there are significant role models who influence the person we choose to be. During my time at the college I look back at those who exemplified what it means to be an STC man in class, on the sports field and out in the community. I really realised we are blessed as we have many examples to draw on. So many role models in my eyes have in their time at the college inspired me. These role models have had a huge influence over me during their time at the college.

So leadership lessons that I have learnt that I thought that I would share are:

Our motto and its importance - Educated Minds and Educated Hearts – to lead with your heart as well as your head

My education will shape my contrbution and where I will stand and will have an influence and that is why education is so important

To our Year 13 group - tonight we conclude this phase and move on to new and exciting opportunities. I wish all of you the very best and know that each of you will make your own positive mark on this world. The friendships forged within the school gates will be lasting as they have been built on sharing all the small things that become the things that we will miss the most like sharing lunches, getting drivers licences or not, our formals, sharing homework, phones and data, I wish you all the very best for whatever the future holds and know that our bonds of brotherhood forged here at our school will endure as we move onto the next stage in our lives as young adults and STC Old Boys.

To our teachers on behalf of everyone of us on the stage – Thank you! Thank you for your patience, your skills, your expertise, your patience, your understanding and your belief in each of us – we wouldn’t be graduating without you! You have done so much more than teach us you have also been our coaches, our friends (now) our drivers and our mentors.

What makes STC such a good college? It is our teachers, the administrators, the IT team, Board of Trustees, our grounds man and our senior leadership team, and of course our principal and leader Christine . These are many of the people who work diligently behind the scenes to ensure everything runs smoothly to create a positive learning environment for us to succeed.

Ko te hapai o ki muri ko te hapai o ki mua - When all is well at the back, it follows that all will be well at the front - So I thank you.

Quite often in our time at the College we hear the term “A Saint Thomas Man”. It is about growing good men, and good men became good fathers, husbands, uncles, coaches and leaders. A former inspirational leader of our College - my brother once said What is it to be a St Thomas man - a Saint Thomas Man is “To be a man for others”. Ladies and Gentleman I give you a stage full of Saint Thomas men.

No reira Tena koutou tena koutou katoa