Jack Lu
Valedictory Dinner Speech
Good evening Mr. Hughes, honoured guests, members of staff, parents of graduates
and the class of 2003.
Welcome to this remarkable occasion. I would like to first congratulate the
class of 2003, you should be proud of your hard work and today is proof that it has
been a great accomplishment and it’s finally paid off.
Five years ago, I arrived here at JSR, with no knowledge of what I’ve got
myself into. I felt emotions of fear, stress and uncertainty of not knowing what lies
ahead of time. As time flew by, I’ve watched each and every one of you mature and
grow… but not necessarily in that order. I remember the first year of high school
being my most uncomfortable due to the fear of meeting new people and stepping out
of my comfort zone. Year 9 then felt like a community as annual school camps
brought each and every one of us closer through teamwork and cooperation. Year 10
began to feel like home, as we all knew each other very well, including the bad habits.
In year 11 the boys finally reached their ultimate manhood goal, yes you’ve guessed
it… they could wear long pants! And now once again, we have all reached the point
where we’re about to step out of our comfort zone that has been created through the
past 5 years of high school. I’d like to thank all of you for creating my comfort zone
through your friendship, support and love.
I stand before you with mixed feelings. I’m glad that it’s all over and the
pressures and stresses will be gone but the ironic part of this is that I’m going miss it.
I’m going to miss these times that we’ve shared wether it’d be through learning or just
hanging out with each other. I know it’s hard to admit but I’m going to miss every
little aspect of each and every one of you.
I’ll miss the school captains from Erin’s high-pitched “good morning” of
every Monday morning and Mark’s balcony stunt at leadership camp; Justin’s love
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affair with his guitar and Emma’s horse getting excited over Trent at her birthday
party; Matt Lenton’s attempt to blow up the school toilets with a firecracker in year
10 and Jess’ repetitive excuses of “I was busy kicking ass overseas” to get out of
homework.
Now as for the house captains; Sasa’s tips on Yugoslavian pickups lines and
Gracie’s jelly beans in English; Robert Sing’s friendliness and Michelle’s bright
smile; Bree’s helpfulness that will always be appreciated and Clinton’s ball dropping
announcement of the daily notices; and lastly to my partner female house captain
Christina, I will miss your stories about your love affairs with Rob and Andrew G
from Australian Idol.
To everyone else out there, there is a huge list so please bear with me. I will
miss Brado and Jacko’s Bush Adventures at Rottnest Island where we applied our
survival skills as we were stranded in the middle of Rottnest with 2 broken bikes and
1 bottle of water; the early morning fishing sessions with Chamara, Sasa and Brad at
Rottnest; Malak’s ethnic jokes; Chamara’s Sri-Lanka version of Craig David; the way
that Parphan cheats during card games; Steve’s ever growing beard that’s about to
earn him a role over Tom Hanks in Castaway 2; the brains of Ai, Tu, Edwin, Richard
and Jon ; the fact that Ai Troung calls everyone by their first and last name; Ranesh’s
continuous efforts to win equality for the “black people”; Robby’s afro, got to be one
of the best I’ve ever seen; Brendan Carr, the little tank; Martin, Nick, Damo and
Jason’s year 9 discovery of the method; Damo’s conflict with the pencil and the
crack; the way that everyone picked on Kane in year 9; Tom’s rally driving skills
cleaning out Brado’s bumper; Stacie’s breathe taking looks turning the heads of many
guys since 1999; when Claire walked into the fire hydrant in year 8; when Belinda
walked into a fly screen door at Skye’s in year 10; Nicole’s incredible sense of
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humour; Jess Tomkins, JSR’s checkout chick; the bright colours of Michelle
Blackmore’s ball dress; Danielle’s efforts at Rebecca Lowrie’s party in year 10; The
Philster’s 60’s porn star look; when Ms Griffon threw a shoe at Jesse, honestly who
throws a shoe? Honestly? Liz Tran, the high achiever; Beulah, the girl with the last
name I still can’t pronounce after 5 years; Jess Little’s black plastic baby named
Tupac; the way that Patrick laughs in his sleep at the year 12 leadership camp;
Ashleigh’s individuality and independence; Sherrin’s creativity; Katie’s whacked out
parties; Nicole Treby’s stories about her scientific experiences in year 9; the way it
took a year for people to stop calling Jenny the new girl; Nick Leeman’s rap debut in
year 11; Carlos’ effort to “stay out of trouble”; Nick Atkinson’s ability to impersonate
Mr Hughes; Cameron Vaughn’s massive sideburn chops; Craig’s lanky legs; Matt
Ogden’s consistent efforts to participate and help out; Tina Bowers and Emma
Clarke’s peaceful nature in PCG; James’ Asian pride attitude; Natasha’s hard punches
when she use to bash me in year 9; Chris… he’s dating Jacqui… BUGGA! Hope…
she’s dating Steve… BUGGA! Jacqui’s and Jade’s ability to get along with everyone;
Layton’s attempt to blow up the science block when he added water into boiling wax
in year 9 science; Adam’s drag queen performance in year 10 at the Fairbridge camp;
Peter’s cheeky comments in B&V; Lewis, what can I say but he’s big and he’s red;
Lloyd and Tara, what a lovely couple and all the best to the both of you; the musical
talent of Trent, Phil, Justin, Brad Cass and Alex Ayres; Trent’s random comments in
economics; Leo’s consistent use of the words “Oooh Damn!”; the whole physics class
hiding Daniel Augustyniak’s books with Mr William’s in on it; Lynsay’s enthusiastic
stories; Jodi’s lovely picture of Brado in year 9; Edwin’s attempt to be a monkey,
breaking his arm as he fell off a tree at the year 9 camp; Fiona and Jojo’s sweet and
innocent nature; Natalie’s soccer skills at lunch ripping up the boys; Glenn being what
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we asian’s call the only “Gwui Low” in the calculus class; Johnno’s Tarago of love;
the hilarious actions of Marc Fantozzi; Jamie McBain’s avoidance of canteen duty;
Naoibh’s amazingly long hair; Jason Cox’s stories when he was in Italy; Scott, Paley
and Lawrence’s addiction to Counter-Strike; Erin Grace’s dance routines at Johnny
Rockets; Kylie’s cute and adorable laugh; the mastering of Magic cards by Andrew,
Scott, Craig and Samuel; Christian and Jarrad’s obsession with STAR WARS in year
8-10; Alex Roddy’s love for cars, women and money, in that order; Rhys’ ever
present humour; the way that Josh reacts when you call him Joshua; the way that
Allen Williams goes “boom boom” when he played handball in year 9; Jean Luc’s
kung fu fighting skills; Kosta’s Greek dance; Lewis McCracken’s knowledge with the
computer and lastly Kyle’s obsession with sticking things in sockets.
Well… I think that covers about everyone and as you can see, we’re actually
all quite a bunch of bogans… except for me of course.
As for the teachers; Dudds, I’ll miss the laugh’s that we’ve shared during
every sporting event; Forbsey and Harris, keep complimenting each other’s farts like
you did at the year 10 camp; Mr. Taylor, even though we take the piss, you’re still a
champ and always will be; Mr. Dunnet, your jokes and dancing performances in year
9 maths are lame, I won’t miss that! Mr. Palmer, your unreadable handwriting is now
readable but it took me 5 years to figure it out; Mr. Lee, I will miss your dirty but
mathematical minded jokes; I will miss the way that Mr. Williams refers to Newton as
the “Beezneez” of physics; Ms Rainier, thank you for making PCG more entertaining
than most of the others; Ms Reeve, let me know in 10 years if you’ve mastered your
disco techniques; Mr Yates, don’t get too smashed from the wine you’re making; Mr.
Hann, you won’t have to worry about our uniforms anymore as we’re now allowed to
wear our “glad rags”; and lastly but most importantly, to Mr. Hughes, I speak on
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behalf of the class of 2003, thank you for the opportunity to experience one of the
greatest years of our lives, in which will always be a part of us for as long as time
never ends.
There are many other members of staff here that are not mentioned, but as you
can see, that just from a handful of them, that over the past 5 years, we have formed
such great friendships and they have supported us both educationally and socially.
As we all endeavour onto our new journeys, I would like to remind you all to
always have faith, faith in God, faith in others and faith in yourself. Always hope but
do not solely rely on hope. Always love, as without love, there is no passion. Lastly,
do not let others mock you of your dreams. If you dream you have no boundaries and
without boundaries you can do anything as long as you believe.
I would like to take this last opportunity to share some words with each and
everyone one of you:
We began as acquaintances, then classmates, and over the years we
are now friends. Even though we are of many different backgrounds and
personalities we’ve all come to accept each other to form this bond of
companionship that will last forever in our hearts. Let us not forget the good
times we’ve shared and cherish them as we proceed to the next step and as we
do so, remember, we’re not losing old friends but gaining new ones… because
friendships last forever. So before I conclude, I would like you all to join me
in raising your glasses as I propose a toast… to the next step!
Always remember where we come from, as it is there, where we define ourselves.
Good luck to those doing exams next week and once again congratulations as you are
now free.
God Bless and take care, Thank You.