Kia Ora e te whanau, Nga mihi nui ki a koutou, Ko Taupiri te Maunga, Ko Waikato te Awa

Ko Tainui te Waka, He Piko he Taniwha, He Piko he Taniwha, He Piko he Taniwha Rau

Ko Te Awamarahi te Marae, Ko Ngati Pou te Hapu, Ko Waikato te Iwi, Ko Kole Harmer toku Ingoa

Good evening parents, students, whanau, teachers, and members of our wider St Thomas of Canterbury College community. If I am being honest I tried to write this speech so many times, but every time I tried to put pen to paper I felt overcome by emotion. Maybe it is the weird disrupted year we have had, but it just feels too soon. People told me to speak from the heart but that felt too big, too overwhelming. It is hard to say goodbye and I wasn’t ready, I’m still not. But here I am and I am going to do my best to express what this place and its people mean to me.

We have been told all our schooling life how special St Thomas of Canterbury College is, a place where everyone’s background and culture is embraced and celebrated. Today I can stand before you hand on heart and tell you that this is a place we call home. A place we describe as a family, a brotherhood, is a place like no other. I feel honoured and blessed to have attended St Thomas’s over the past 7 years and to have been your head boy for 2020. Our journey has been hard fought over the years. We have faced bumps in the road, unforeseen barriers, terrorist attacks, and this year a global pandemic and the sudden and heartbreaking loss of an amazing teacher and friend Mr Brad Milne. Through it all this place, this school, and its community, has been unwavering.

But this speech is not just about this moment in time, it should also acknowledge what has come before. For in this bright future you cannot forget your past. Your past experiences, challenges, and successes become a foundation for the future.

Bernard of Chartes once said, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. As we see more and further than our predecessors, not because we have keener vision nor greater height but because we are lifted up and born upon their gigantic stature.”

I can remember sitting in our school prizegiving when I was Year 8 and listening to the head boys of that year Delane Luke and Tovia Fui. They both spoke with such mana and were so proud of their different cultural backgrounds, and I wanted to have that too. I have never had a chance to thank them for what that did for me. They were the giants whose shoulders I looked to stand upon.

Each of the boys sitting on this stage will have their own special memories and moments that stay with them from our time at St Thomas’s. For me these happened in so many different ways. From our Year 10 Rite Journey Camp walking out of a storm in the middle of the night, to representing STC at Manu Korero and then at Kapa Haka Regionals with Te Hononga Wairua. The Special Character Weeks, leading whole school haka at special events, playing for and captaining the First XV over the past three years, and that infamous victory over Boys High in Year 12.

But the thing I will treasure most is the relationships, connections, and banter that we have with each other. Whether it was Mr Washington yelling at me for having the incorrect pants, hearing Barclay yell at assembly, seeing Mr Hart farewell the boys into the weekend with a smile and a handshake at the gate or just having a laugh with the boys. It is the people that make this place special, “He aha te mea nui te ao. He tangata, he tangata, he tangata…”

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the exceptional teachers and support staff at STC for everything you have done for us. You go above and beyond in so many ways and give up countless hours with your own families to invest in the school’s sporting and extra curricular programs. The reason this school is great, is because of all of you. You are incredible role models and you care for us like we are your own. Personally I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Christine O’Neil and Mr Hart. They have always been there to support and encourage me when I have faced personal adversity and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without that support.

To my leadership team, you were brave in times of fear, supportive when it felt like all hope was lost, courageous to stand up and be counted when no one else would, supportive to build a legacy that as a year group we could be proud of and I couldn’t have done any of it without each and everyone one of you. So thank you.

To my whanau, you are my rock, my foundation, the people I look to most in this world. Your unconditional love and support has made me into the person I am today and words will never be able to describe how truly grateful I am.

Lastly, I asked the boys to try and sum up what STC means to them in one word. In doing this we all realised how hard it actually is to do, instead we made a collection of words which best described each of our individual journeys.

To the boys, my STC brothers, despite the challenges and uncertainty we face going out into the world, here we all are living our lives to the fullest and striving to be the greatest versions of ourselves. It has been a privilege to walk alongside you all, “Whaia te iti kahurangi, ki te tuoho koe, me he maunga teitei” - Seek the treasures of your heart, and if you bow your head let it be to a lofty mountain. Go out into the world and be great, take every opportunity that comes your way, give back, and never forget brothers together brothers forever.

Nga mihi nui, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou katoa.

Kole Harmer

College Captain