Edward Morgan - Head Boy

Noswaith dda. Hoffwn groesawu'r holl rieni, staff, myfyrwyr a chyfeillion coleg i ddathliad ysgol gyfan 2018.

Good evening. I would like to welcome all parents, staff, students, and friends of the college to the 2018 whole school celebration.

Now, you're probably thinking "what in the world was that" and to be honest I don't blame you in the slightest. It may have seemed like that was gibberish but I promise you it wasn't. That was Welsh. I can see the perplexed faces, "Welsh? Really? Why on earth would he speak Welsh in New Zealand" Well, it is because at the start of this year I set a goal to myself to learn enough Welsh that I could do the introduction of this speech in Welsh. Why would I set that of all things as a goal? Surely if I was going to do something language based it would be more beneficial to do a language that’s actually useful. The reason I set that as a goal is because I wanted to strengthen the connection with my heritage. I'm half Welsh and very proud of it, it's my heritage, it's part of who I am.

Having a connection to your heritage is something that I wanted to encourage everyone to be proud of. As part of this there was a proposal for a wall to be covered in flags showing all of the nationalities that St Thomas boys represent. These nationalities range from being their primary nationality to the country their great grandad is from. There was a total of 35 different nationalities that were named in the survey which was filled out be around two thirds of the school. To have a fifth of all the countries in the world represented at such a small school is pretty special.

Knowing that little bit more about yourself and where you've come from is great for having positive mental health which is something that this year's leadership team wanted to have an emphasis on. One of the things we discussed on our leadership camp at the end of last year was that we wanted all students to feel like they could talk to us whenever about whatever. And whilst we aren't the most intimidating group of young men, this was definitely something that was a success. There was a particular moment this year where I realised that this goal had been met. I was bussing home one day and as the bus is stopped I hear someone speak. "Oi Eddie" I look up and see a year 7 whom I had never spoken too. He then asked if I had any water, I did and so gave him it. It may seem rather insignificant but thinking back on my time in year 7, there was no way in hell that I was going to ask a year 13 for anything, let alone on a bus. That moment may not have been quite what we were envisioning back on camp but it made me realise that we had succeeded in making ourselves approachable. Whilst bridging the gap between seniors and juniors is something that we are proud of doing it isn't the only thing that has happened this year.

2018 has been a pretty mental year for St Thomas. We kicked off the year by raising an incredible $13,338 for the shave for a cure campaign with 45 boys and staff shaving their hair. That total put us as the 5th best school in the country which for a school of 650, is absolutely outstanding. The old gym has undergone an awesome transformation from a dingy old gym into a much more inviting hall space. For this I would like to give a special thanks to Graham, Rodger, and Mr Barclay senior for their work on transforming that space and to Mr Biggs for his work on the legacy wall. Another massive effort that was put in this year was the St Vincent de Paul clothing drive. With hundreds of items of clothing donated we managed to collect more this year than was done last year which is very impressive considering last year's clothing drive was incredibly successful. We also had, in my opinion, the best special character week there has been in my 7 years at the college. The atmosphere of the singing competition is something that I'm sure everyone who was involved in will look back on with fondness for their entire lives. Sibling schools smackdown, I four one feel like this was a great success, and not just because we beat Villa 4-1. All of the involvement was awesome to see and I hope that next year's year 13s can continue the tradition and bring back another W.

Throughout this speech you've probably had a few moments where you think to yourself 'this doesn't seem particularly formal' and to be honest you're very right. That wasn't accidental though, it's my style of speaking. Like every other college captain I had the dreaded "oh no what am I supposed to say" and so looked up previous speeches. I started writing this speech in that sort of style, very formal no wasted words all that jazz. But after re-reading what I had wrote I realised that isn't me. And if there's one thing that I tried to do this year it was to stay true to myself and who I am. My style of speaking is one where I try to talk to you, not at you. At the beginning of the year I was asked to speak to at the parents information evening for new parents of the college and I'd say that speech that I did there was a prime example of that style of speaking. Hopefully tonight that has also been the case.

Now it's time for the part of the speech where I say thank you. Thank you to all the staff thank you so much for all the work you put in for all the boys at the college. The school would be nowhere near as good as it is without your constant hard work and dedication. Thank you. I would also like to thank some people who were particularly influential on my 7 years here at St Thomas. To Mr Hart, thank you for all you have done for the college this year. You took on a very difficult role and have excelled. You're commitment to all aspects of college life has been very appreciated. To Mr Auimatagi and Mr Lange, you were both major mentors for me especially in year 9 and 10 which has helped shape me into the young man I am today, thank you. To Mr Lafdal and Mrs Shields. You have been there for me from the beginning, from year 7 and year 8 social studies to form class and level 3 business studies respectively you have always been willing to help and I am incredibly thankful for both of you. Lastly and definitely not least, Ms Smith. To me and many others of our year group you have been a mother-like figure throughout our journey at St Thomas. Drama and production are hosts to some of my most treasured memories from my time at the college and you have been a major factor in those. Thank you so so much for everything you have done for us.

For a lot of you here tonight you're here to see your sons, brothers, friends, extended family, or whatever other relation you have to these young men beside me, graduate. I've had the blessing to spend the last 7 years of my life with the young men you see sitting up here on the stage. Well done on making it this far in life and not getting caught in the green slip epidemic of 2018. Look at who is sitting next to you, this could well be the last time you see him. After seeing each other nearly every day for the last 5-7 years we will be separated by our different pursuits in life. My favourite thing about our year group is that I consider all of you not just to be classmates, but friends. It's been one hell of a journey and I'm excited to see what the future holds for us. It's been an honour to lead and represent you.

If there is one thing that you take out of my speech tonight it's to stay true to yourself. Every person here is incredible and I truly mean that. Whatever you may be going through just know that there is a purpose to your story. You may not know what the end goal is but that’s all part of the adventure. 

Thank you.