Oakhill congratulated our HSC High Achievers on Friday 6th February with an Assembly. The College heard from ?? who spoke about ???
It’s a privilege to be back here today, returning as an Oakhill graduate and having the opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has been instrumental to me and my peers during our time here. Firstly, to our teachers: thank you for your patience, your dedication, and the endless hours spent outside the classroom, marking and giving feedback—even if it was the 4th time I had asked that week. To our parents: thank you for your support, your unwavering belief in us, and enabling us to attend Oakhill College with its vast range of opportunities. Last but not least, to the graduating class of 2025, thank you. The past few years were far from easy. But as a cohort, our courage, grit and competitiveness made it possible for us to be back here today, celebrating our hard-earned success with friends, family and the college community. I have no doubt, this class will go on to do extraordinary things, leaving a meaningful mark wherever life takes us.
Coming to Oakhill as an average primary school student, I remember listening to Lachlan Elliot deliver his speech, never once imagining that that could one day be me up there giving a speech of my own and finishing near the top of New South Wales. See, my talent alone was insufficient for me to fulfil my greatest goals, as it often is for many. But during my time at Oakhill, I would learn that opportunities found throughout life are places where talent and effort can combine, enabling us to reach for the stars. And when we dare to reach, we can step beyond our potential and transform unimaginable challenges into the milestones of our success.
Along the way, I learnt that striving towards success demands more than just putting in a lot of effort, it requires grit and perseverance through the unexpected disappointment of setbacks. In moments of motivation when we picture our goals, whatever they may be, and imagine ourselves achieving them, any sensation, emotion, or feeling related to disappointment is naturally absent. We all theoretically understand that setbacks are inevitable, but these flashes of inspiration are perfect and exhilarating — they leave no room for wasted time, distractions, or missed opportunities. So when we do face setbacks, they feel painful and impassable, not because they are uncommon, but because we never truly imagined them as part of our journey. But what God gives us isn’t always what we ask for. We may pray for comfort, ease, or certainty, yet He often gives challenges, delays, or lessons instead. But it’s in these challenges that we grow — making mistakes but persevering onwards through the disappointment brings opportunity to improve by turning weakness into strength, uncertainty into direction and exposure into endurance, drawing us closer to our goal not despite the difficulty, but because of it.
5 years ago, in year 8, I remember coming home after a math test, on the verge of tears, after running out of time before attempting a quarter of the questions. Looking back, it was a small bump in the road, but at the time it seriously felt like I was incapable of excelling in maths. But with advice from my teacher I understood that this setback had directed me to get used to working under pressure in timed conditions. And a thousand timed practice papers later, I went on to come first in the state for advanced mathematics.
Coming off receiving year 11 DUX, I had high aspirations for my HSC year. But exactly a year ago, I remember sitting in BQ203 frozen in terrified disbelief as I received 50% in my first HSC religion assessment. Whilst unbelievably disappointing at the time, it turned out to be the perfect humbling to break my holiday complacency, and remind me that I still had room to improve.
This idea of recovering from and opportunising setbacks can be applied to pursuing any goal in life, whether that be in the classroom, on the stage or the sports field. As the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan, said in his 1997 ‘Failure’ campaign, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
Along my journey to HSC success, some of the lessons I learnt from my teachers, peers and moments of disappointment, I would like to share with you today.
Firstly, one of the key lessons that shaped my journey was learning to seek teacher feedback early and often. Progress came not from avoiding criticism, but from embracing it, using honest advice as a roadmap to become better with every attempt. Thankfully, after 6 years here, I have not met a single Oakhill teacher unwilling to go out of their way to help anyone who genuinely wants to improve.
Secondly, practice papers are the most valuable tool available for your study. They don’t just prepare you for exam conditions, they fill gaps in your knowledge of the course and teach you how to apply content to exam-style questions. With online collections such as Acehsc and THSC, there’s virtually an endless amount of papers, with each and every one having something new to teach you.
Next, maximise your productivity by eating a live frog first thing in the morning, forelegs and all. Fortunately that's only a metaphor and doesn't require you to eat a live frog, but rather to do the worst first. Having a task that you’re delaying can drain your energy, stress you out, and make you less productive. But once you complete that task, it will give you a sense of accomplishment propelling you throughout the day.
One of the biggest mistakes made by students concerns sleep. We all know it's crucial to sleep well the night before an exam, but a sufficient and sustained long-term sleep schedule is crucial leading up to an exam period, as it aids focus during classtime, strengthening your recall ability.
I also recommend surrounding yourself with a group of people, who push you to work harder both, when you're around them, and even when you're not. I can tell you that I would not have achieved close to what I did without having my friends bringing out the best in me and constantly challenging me to aim higher and higher.
One habit I had to get over coming into my senior years was spending my breaks mindlessly scrolling. Scrolling reels and shorts is more than just another way to relax and take a break— it actively works against your progress by degrading attention span and memory. I don’t know what your goals, aspirations, passions or skills are but, I am sure that scrolling has no benefit to offer you. Someone once told me that rest is a pit stop, not the race. If it doesn’t make you more willing to get back on track, it’s not rest, it’s avoidance.
Finally, the questions on your HSC paper are only the means to an end, as you search for the answer to the question about what you will do for the rest of your life. It's a big question, but one everyone needs to answer, and one that can’t be answered by any practice paper. Time away from study, rest with family, participating in Lasallian service, researching interesting topics, prayer and taking time to reflect helps put things into perspective, showing you who you are and what you want to achieve. And once you find out, the HSC stops being something you dread, but something you are free to pursue with enthusiasm and purpose.
In under 6 years, almost every student here will have to sit the HSC, which will possibly influence your future careers. But in under the same 6 years, every student here will have an opportunity to explore a passion, make lifelong friendships and create memories that will influence them for the rest of their life. Enjoy it, make mistakes, and don’t be afraid to, take time to figure yourself out and turn your will into potential, and potential into achievement. And before you know it, you’ll realise that the moments you once doubted yourself were the very ones shaping you. That the setbacks you thought were delays were actually preparation. And perhaps one day, sooner than you expect, you’ll find yourself reflecting on how far you’ve come — not because everything went to plan, but because you had the courage to keep going when it didn’t.
