Georgie's Speech ...

Good evening everyone, my name is Georgie Bian, and this year, I’ve had the utmost privilege of serving as the School Captain. I wanted to start my address with a question…

When the world is listening, what will you say? This is a question that is completely relevant to us as individuals in the modern world, where the power of communication is at our fingertips. But as I was writing this speech, the question that constantly passed through my mind was, “When intelligent and driven young individuals are listening, surrounded by the important people that make up their lives, what will I say?”

Now the fact that I've even been given this opportunity to address you all on such a significant night is incredible, so thank you for giving me this privilege, and I hope that the things I say will be worth listening to.

It's incredible to think how fast time has passed - it seems like it was only yesterday when the Class of 2016 entered the school as new students. And suddenly, the Year 12s are sitting here, with no doubt smashing their VCE exams. Time seems to become some sort of paradox for our school, it flashes by so quickly, but at the same time, it seems to stretch to allow us to fit our countless events into the small time frame of a year.

But this year alone has been a whirlwind, just in the past few months, the world has seen a presidential election that separated America and affected the entire world. Donald Trump, with his blatant racism and sexism, won the election, raising questions about the true magnitude of our progression as a society. And the hard truth is that we all face hardships as humans, whether it be relating to our gender, race, sexuality, class, and the list goes on. Just this year, the first six months of 2016 have been the warmest half year on record, and the prospect of global warming is just one of the many looming hardships that our entire world will face in the near future.

With hardships, comes the questions of how to overcome them, and with questions, we need answers. In the middle of the year, during one of my addresses to the school, I talked about the idea of “not knowing yet”. This simple word “yet” changes the whole mindset in regards to these issues, it fosters patience, drive and optimism. We don't have the answers, yet.

And with the curiosity that basically shines from the students of Mac.Rob and the incredible sense of unity that we have, you can't help but have this optimism that one day we will have the answers and our Mac.Rob students will undoubtedly be at the forefront of this strive for an answer. Unity is found in every corner of our school, it's found in the hallway greetings, the gruelling hours teachers spend marking work, the enthusiasm our Palladians and Parents’ Association have for helping our school, and it's found here. I look around and I see strong and talented individuals, and we're all here tonight to support and celebrate the achievements of our peers, we’re here together, as one.

Last year, at the end of my speech to selection panel for the role of School Captain, I revealed an acronym that I had woven into it, and that was the word Mac.Rob. And during another one of my addresses, I made the acronym yet. So I knew it would only be suitable if I ended this amazing journey with one last acronym.

Tonight, I talked about the way time seems to speed up but slow down. I talked about hardships that our world faces, where the unknown answers that we strive for, in the meantime can just be a matter of not knowing yet. And finally I talked about the optimism that is bound to be felt when you see the strong sense of unity our school holds.

Time, hardships, answers, not knowing yet, optimism, unity. T-h-a-n-k-y-o-u.

To my mum, dad, two sisters, and my two best friends, thank you for your endless support, trust, laughter, and unconditional love. I wouldn’t be where I am now without you all, I love you all so much.

To Dr Meath, Mr Russell, Mrs Dean, Mr Maaser, Mr Page and Mr Sawaki, thank you for your constant support, guidance, care and friendship.

To every single teacher, the love and passion that you have for teaching shines through in everything that you do. Thank you for all the time and effort you’ve put into helping us students, we’ll be forever grateful.

To Monique, my partner in crime, thank you for everything. You're my rock, my inspiration, and although it’ll be hard to keep hanging out with each other 24/7 in the years to come, I can’t wait to see the incredible things that you will achieve.

And finally, I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but the acronyms I’ve made over the year are Mac.Rob, yet and thank you. Or in other words, Mac.Rob, I have yet to thank you. Thank you to every single individual in our Mac.Rob community, it’s you that makes our amazing school what it is, and I hope that I’ve been able to give back even half of what Mac.Rob has given me. Being in this role has been an incredible and humbling experience, and so for my final thank you, Mac.Rob, thank you for allowing me to serve as your School Captain for 2016. Thank you.