Principal's Address: Year 12 Farewell 2011
Principal's Address
Sydney Boys High School
at the Passing out of Year 12
Held on 20 September 2011
Good afternoon and welcome to all the parents, family, staff and students
who have come to share our Farewell Assembly for Year 12, 2011. This year鈥檚 Year
12 boys have been characterised by their social justice orientation. Whether it
was in supporting each other at school, helping staff or organising the school鈥檚
community service projects, the class of 2011 really made a big contribution to
the tradition of service at High. During the last five years High has developed
an enviable reputation for community service. Driven by class of 2011 boys, the
Community Services Committee has led the way in many fund raising projects.
Total collections for the year will exceed $100,000 鈥� a tribute to the energy
and civic consciousness of this cohort. Thank you to Andrew Gaffney, Yale Wong
and David Chan for their leadership over the last three years in particular.
The achievements of High boys in basketball this calendar year are
unsurpassed in High鈥檚 history. A Rashke Cup, a Co-Premiership, a CHS Knock-Out
Title and recently 鈥� NSW All-Schools Champions 鈥� establish the depth of talent
and self-belief that the team has built up over the last two seasons. We expect
them to go on to take out back-to-back Australian Schools titles. Our volleyball
team is facing a tougher standard of GPS competition but nevertheless prevailed
again. After a successful All-Schools Tournament campaign, High fell just short
of a clean sweep this year at the CHS Knockout. The record of volleyball at High
over the last five years is certainly impressive. This year鈥檚 athletics result
for the senior championship was within a few points of second 鈥� a position we
still held at 2:15 on carnival day. Despite fading to 5th after the 400s and
relays, it was a great day for High athletics.
For some years on this occasion I have recognised the boys in Year 12 who
have made a significant contribution to our sports program by representing the
school in two seasons in their final year. I really appreciate their commitment.
This year there were 106 boys in Year 12 who played a GPS sport in two seasons.
Those who represented High in GPS competition, first or second grade, deserve a
special mention. The 鈥淭riple Firsts鈥� for 2011 were: Chris Morrow, Michael Phung,
David Nguyen, Frank Torok, Jeremy Dobrowolski, Kumudika Gunaratne and Brendan
Hancock. Well done to our 鈥楧ouble Firsts鈥�: Andrija Dumovic, Sangeeth Subramaniam,
Nakul Bhagwat, Sivasaran Sooriakumar, Ryan Caetano, Jonah Petrie, Nishant Paul,
Giancarlo Romeo, Ashwin Rudder, Oliver Sabau, William Shao, Gabriel Garayalde
and Pasan Pannila. In the 鈥淥ne-Two Club鈥� were: Peter Tran, Isaac Eveleigh,
Andrew Ye, Ryan McDonald, Michael Wong and Nathan Kok. 鈥楧ouble-Two鈥� participants
for 2011 were Tim Gollan and Casper Price.
In the last four years High has not attracted more than 29 boys in any year
to represent their school in two sports in GPS first and second grade in their
final year at school. This statistic is one reason for High鈥檚 lack of
competitiveness in the traditional GPS sports. We need to build a stronger
culture of participation amongst Year 12 boys beyond the social level. A healthy
balance of work and play is good for academic achievement. It does not detract
from it.
As you leave formal schooling behind and take responsibility for your own
education through study and examination performance, you might think about the
skills you will need in a rapidly changing world. The global environment you are
entering has many challenges but the openness revolution is one of the most
powerful. The internet has brought immediacy to everyone鈥檚 world. There is a
shift in how we view personal details brought about by the proliferation of
social networking. We are sharing more of ourselves with the world than we used
to share with our closest friends. The internet has become a virtual, portable
homeland in which you can communicate with like-minded people. The new powerful
tool for the twenty-first century is collective intelligence. People are
appreciating the value of communication and collaboration to solve problems.
There is a decline in the reliance on experts and a rise in the power of social
networks and social proof. The result has been a 鈥榙emocratisation of
information鈥�. This movement will have powerful effects on international and
domestic political structures in the next quarter century.
The 鈥楢rab Spring鈥� in Tunisia and revolutionary movements that have followed,
are good example of the political expression of changed expectations and
attitudes as a result of rapid and widespread information flows in the Arab
World, uncontrollable by governments. The globalisation of information will be
an ongoing challenge to governments everywhere. Convergence will bring
multimedia data into fewer appliances or even just one. You will be involved
with this phenomenon in your working lives after university. We hope that an
education at High has given you a global perspective. We are confident that your
training and experiences at High have exposed you to these modern communication
trends and that you have acquired the skills of cooperation and collegial action
to manage them in your future lives. You have added significantly to the High
tradition. It has been my privilege to be your Principal. Goodbye and good
luck.
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