Valedictory Dinner 2020

TO THOSE WHO LEAVE US –VALEDICTORY DINNER 2020

On Friday 23 October, our Year 12 students, together with their parents gathered at the Adelaide Convention Centre for a very special Valedictory Dinner. It is a tradition that a staff member toasts those who are leaving. In 2020, Head of House and old scholar, Rhiannon Giles saluted our graduating girls.

Good evening Jane Danvers, Year 12 students, families and colleagues. This week twenty something years ago, I sat in my last school Chemistry lesson in S1. I had plans to study science at Adelaide University before Dietetics and Nutrition at Flinders. My Chemistry teacher was Ms Judy Cox, a Wilderness Old Scholar herself and we all adored her. Just as many of your Year 12 teachers have done this week, she gave us all a good luck present. A small test tube with a sprig of Geraldton Wax sitting inside and a small piece of silver curling ribbon tied around it. Her final words in that class were a challenge given to us, ‘Now go out there and show them that girls do Chemistry.’ I remember these words so vividly because it had never occurred to me that girls didn’t. At Wilderness you, like me, have been supported and encouraged to develop your interests, whatever they may be. To seek new opportunities and what’s more, you would have found a tribe of like-minded friends to help you along the way. This evening you join a group of approximately six thousand old scholars who, through this school, are linked for all time.

Have you ever considered the person you would be without Wilderness? What lessons, experiences and opportunities would you have missed?

If you take away the Wilderness parts of me, I am not sure how much would remain, it is such an important part of who I am as an individual and as an educator.

It is here that I should mention that I have a special place in my heart for the Boarders, their families and the transition when starting at Wilderness. What a culture shock it was for me to start here after finishing primary school in Port Augusta. Nothing about me then suggested Maths and Science were for me until Year 8.

Now if you have been taught by me, you will no doubt know that I failed my first fractions test and why. It was at that point I decided I did not much like that feeling and resolved to master fractions and I did. Then when my name was read out at assembly for achieving a prize in a science competition, people told me ‘You are good at Science’ and I believed them. So, it was settled, Maths and Science were for me and I never changed my mind. I had always liked school, but I loved Wilderness, my House, my classes, my subjects, my friends and my teachers. This year, during the period of online learning, I learnt that Wilderness is a lonely place without girls for as explained by Miss Mamie, ‘in the long run it is the girls who make the school’. The speeches given by teachers and your peers over the last week have detailed the valuable contributions you have all made to the School, to make it what it is today and the legacy you leave for the future. People are always keen to know if Wilderness has changed over the years and in many ways, yes, it has. Schools are ever changing, dynamic and evolving. You all have been lucky enough to be the first group of Year 12s to walk through the doors of the magnificent Learning Commons, to inhabit a beautiful new Common Room, put your books in the lockers and enjoy the learning spaces.

The School does look very different, even from when you started here. But I know what is important remains unchanged and that is the School values. I know this because when I walk around the School, I feel the same sense of pride and connection I felt when I was a student. I witness the School values being lived by the students every day. Some of you may be feeling that you are ready to leave but others of you may not. I can tell you from experience, that the sense of belonging and connection you have experienced here at Wilderness, will be harder to find in the world of tertiary study or work. You have heard me say it before, but the real world is not like Wilderness. Please be prepared for this fact but leave here with the confidence that the School shares, that within you is everything you need. Please raise your glasses and join me in a toast to those leaving. To the Class of 2020, all our very best wishes. May you remain ‘Always True’.

Rhiannon Giles Head of House – Cedar