Wednesday September 12, 1962, it was a sunny day in Houston. At a podium on an American Football field at Rice University (named after William Marsh Rice not our well-known Ed Rice) stood the then president of the United States, Robert F Kennedy. Surrounding him were thousands of people seated tooth by jowl in typically large American Football grandstands.
His first words were common to guest speakers everywhere; a reassurance that this speech will be short (and we continue to live in hope). Then he begins, “We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a State noted for strength, and we stand in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance.”
As his speech progresses, he says the following words. “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”
Kennedy proposed going to the moon, this, at the beginning of the 1960’s Space Race. And when he said it would be hard, he wasn’t joking. The Moon is 384400km from Earth, it doesn’t look that far, big and full in the night sky, a dusting of dark shadow to complete the picture. Just a short jaunt really. But consider the fact that the straight-line distance between Brisbane and Perth is 3600km. You would have to travel between here and there some 106 times to cover the same distance as the Earth to the Moon, exhausting to say the least.
And then ponder on the thought that an Phone12 (not sure how earlier iPhones or even Android Phones would fare…pretty well I’d imagine) has about one million times more processing power and seven million times more memory than the Appollo guidance computer that took three astronauts to the moon. Got to the Moon? Hard? Yep!
Over the past weeks our Year 11 men have been preparing to take on the mantel of leadership for the College. Meanwhile, the leaders of 2023 see their legacy gently and slowly come to fruition, cementing itself as a foundation for their successors.
Simon Sinek renown speaker on leadership would say that leadership isn’t a rank, it’s not a position, it’s a decision, it’s a choice. Younger students will always take their lead from what they see of their older peers. For the leaders of 2024, our current Year 11 cohort, the fact is they will be leaders. The decision, the choice, what they need to ask themselves is not whether or not to lead, by the very nature of being Year 12’s their visibility serves as an example to others. No, the choice to be made, the question to ask is “how will I lead”?
In speaking recently to our Year 11’s at their final Leadership day I reminded them of how leadership will play out for them in 2024. They will all be leaders. Some will choose to lead by representing and serving at the forefront of the cohort as College Captains, House Captains and Committee Leaders.
For all, though, their decision is whether to look after the next guy; the person beside them, in their homeroom, in their classrooms, in the tuckshop line. Leadership isn’t about hierarchy or position, leadership is hard, whatever the choice. At Eddies we encourage this choice, we choose to do these things not because they are easy but because they are hard and most importantly because they are right.
For this place, here on the Hill, here at Eddies in “a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a State noted for strength” we value leaders who are committed and competent, who listen first and speak last. We value balance and responsibility. We value leaders who are prepared to make mistakes and who are prepared to be accountable when mistakes are made. We value leaders who are humble and not afraid to ask for help. We value leaders who in their way have a vision, who “choose to go to the moon and do the other things”.
Indeed no one is a finished product, but everyone can aspire to be the best they can be. The challenge for us is to provide the opportunities for our young men, as students, as sons, partners and employees and in their own time as leaders; to be their best them.
Possunt Quia Posse Videntur, they can because they see they can. There’s the challenge; to show our young man that they can; to lead them to their choice because for the Eddies Team “that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”
College Student Leadership Team 2024
I take great pleasure in announcing the Student Leadership team for 2024. Congratulations to these young men who have chosen and who have been chosen to take on the mantle of student leadership. They represent not only their Senior Cohort of 2024 but every one of our students here on the Hill. Well done Gentlemen!
College Captains
Godwin Augustin, Brandon Davis, Jared Lauron and Harry Winrow
Academic Committee Leaders
Rhys Cash and Dallas Summerville
Activities Committee Leaders
Talon Campbell and Isaac Christensen
Community Committee Leaders
Dominic Oddi and Jayden Probert
Mission Committee Leaders
Jacob MacDonald and Zyrus Talaba
House Captains
Nathan Nago - Ambrose House
Ryan Prenzler - Callan House
Ryan White - Elliott House
Robert Brown - Finn House
Lucas Baker - Ignatius House
Lochlan Ruhl - Morgan House
William Stewart - Rice House
Ben Wells - Treacy House
