Still Waters Run Deep
Each week our student leaders share their insights with their peers in Assembly.
On Tuesday, Prefect Ali (Year 11) used humour to encourage fellow students to engage in compassion:
“I am sort of afraid of lifts. You wouldn’t know it to look at me. Or maybe you do, maybe I just have the face of someone who is afraid of lifts. That’s beside the point. This speech isn’t about conquering your fears or owning up to them, because you are allowed to have fears, it’s a natural part of existence.
The point of these unique fears is that you can never tell from a surface level what someone is experiencing. If only you knew the mental battle I go through every time I am trying to move between levels in a shopping centre, deciding if I have to reveal my fear to my friends who probably don’t want to take the stairs.
Obviously, this is just a silly metaphor, but the point is that there are so many people in this room going through insurmountable challenges, and you would never even guess. As we reflect on the Prefects' 2022-2023 initiative ‘Hands In’, I think it is wise to remember that these are the people we must all put our 'hands in' for the most. You never know what is going on in someone’s private world; extending kindness could make the difference in a person’s day.
Year 7 students - you have 19 terms left together; Year 11 students – you have just 303 days. The point of this statistic is to illustrate that we will all be here for a while yet, so we should remember that our actions and the way we treat each other will make an impact.
As cliched as it sounds, being kind goes further than we know. So, in saying this, I invite you, as well as putting your hands in, to extend your hands out to support others, because those who seem happiest might be the very people who need it most.”
Ali
Prefect
2022/2023