A Reflection on this Year by Elliot Watson

(Elliots speech at the final Year 13 assembly)

Hello there, my name is Elliot, some of you may know me or know people who know me, but here I am, in front of you now to tell you I’m proud of you. For those who don’t know me I will share with you my story. I’m a student with Autism, ADHD and Anxiety. I have worked hard at this school for 4 and ¾ years like you all. For me Otumoetai was quite difficult to adjust to compared to the small town college I had attended. Like you all I dealt with my fair share of problems, but I took it in my stride and continued moving forward. I count my time here as a success. As I see you all now, I see like minded characters. We all strive to be brilliant. So whether you have barely scraped by, or you soared far beyond the highest heights, I’m telling you now I’m proud of you, because you made it through Year 13, and all the years thus far. Some of you may be like me moving on to university to follow your passion, in my case to follow the stars to become an astrophysicist, or you might be jumping into the job market. Whatever it may be I am proud of you, your achievements, your bravery, your kindness and your reserve. I am proud I get to see so much talent in our year-group, a lot of it is unsung. For all of you unsung geniuses, I’d like to say, good luck, I hope your futures are bright and brilliant. It reminds me of Mr Farthing after I had just done the unthinkable, I performed my contortion act at the talent quest something no one had done before. He came up to me a week after in Drama class and he told me how blown away he was, that was the first time someone had complimented me for my odd talent. The moral of this is, no matter how strange or ‘out there’ you are there is always someone who will cheer for you, No matter if you’re a fledgling contortionist like me or a master artist, there is always someone. Even in the darkest of times.

If there isn’t anyone else to, I will cheer you on, because I know that everyone needs someone in their corner sometimes to lend a hand and sing their praises, as I understand what it’s like to be left with no one in your corner. So to quote a movie lost to time, The Disney film ‘Treasure Planet’, “You got the makings of greatness in ya, but you gotta take the helm and chart your own course and stick to it no matter the squalls and when the time comes, you’ll get the chance to test the cut of your sails and show what you’re made of, I hope I’m there, catching some off the

light off you that day.” Thank you for listening and if you ever need a friend, a wall or someone to hear you out, I will always. And I mean always be here for you. My team, My friends, My Year. My school, Otumoetai College. Always be the best you, you can be, good luck for exams.