It
always gives me great pleasure to speak to our graduating students – you’re a
gorgeous bunch of kids many of whom we’ve known since Prep and Year 1.
We
are nearing the end of our ninth year since opening on 27 January 2010. A
school that is nearly a decade old has taken its place in the community and the
students graduating can look back and see how being a student here has
contributed to the fine young people they have become. Looking back and
reflecting on the past is a useful activity. You can see what has gone well and
where your learnings have been. Your relatively short histories can inform your
futures if you think about your life and what you’ve learned and what you need
to do next.
We cannot imagine the world of your future – it starts to look more like
science fiction every day! Things I talked about 7-10 years ago with graduating
students have already come to pass.
There is a common catch cry that goes something like
‘the future is here now’. And when I look at what you are doing in your
classrooms I believe this to be true. You have been swiping and typing and
coding and creating your way into the future since Prep and Year 1, and you are
now on the cusp of one of the most revolutionary periods in human history – and
that is the automation of much human activity. The automation of many of the
jobs and activities that have been traditionally available throughout the world
will change all of lives – but particularly yours over the next 10 years as you
finish your education and move into the world of work and paid or volunteer
employment.
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| https://davehenson.co.uk/about/ |
Tonight, I’d like to share a story about this man.
His name is Dave Henson. He is British war veteran and Paralympic medallist.
His attitude to life and learning and what the future holds is inspiring and
full of lessons.
Dave went to war for his country in Afghanistan.
While on duty he sustained significant injuries in which he lost both of his
legs and on return to Britain needed to be fitted with prosthetic limbs. As
with many soldiers his whole identity was wrapped up in being a soldier, in
defending his country, and in helping others defend their country and the
ideals of our communities. When he returned home he suffered terribly with the
loss of his legs, the loss of his vocation and the loss of his meaning in life.
As
his legs healed, he cast about for something else to do. It was during his
rehabilitation that Dave found a new passion for sport, first competing in a
series of open water swims with his family to raise funds for military
charities, before taking up Sitting Volleyball. Using sport as a catalyst for
his recovery, Dave quickly met milestone after milestone. He stood side by side
with his brother, Tom, at his wedding. He was promoted to Team Captain in
November the same year. But it was when he was given his running blades that
Dave found his true passion.
Dave’s
recovery continued with pace. He learned to ski, he returned to work assisting
other injured servicemen and women and was part of an exhibition team that
competed in the Warrior Games. Dave later returned to the Warrior Games as the
Captain of the British Armed Forces Team, winning medals in the swimming pool,
on the volleyball court and on the track.
Outside of sport, Dave married his partner and
started a Masters degree in Biomedical Engineering graduating with merit in
2014. He then returned to study to learn more about the body and, in
particular, how the body can interact with machines and robotics. His ultimate
aim was to improve prosthetic limb design, and in particular to develop
prosthetic limbs you can control with your mind.
Dave even foresees a time when amputees will be
able to feel and touch with their prosthetic limbs, and believes this could
happen within 20 years.
When I was little, I used to watch on TV a program
called ‘Six Million Dollar Man’. This was a program about an astronaut with
superhuman strength due to bionic implants. It was a fantastical idea. He could
run at speeds of nearly 100 km/h, and his eye had a 20:1 zoom lens and infra red capabilities, while his bionic limbs all had the equivalent power of a
bulldozer. I am pleased to say there was also a bionic woman
with an amplified bionic ear which allowed her to hear at low volumes and at
different frequencies from most humans and over uncommonly long distances. She
also had extraordinary strength in her bionic
right arm and in both legs that also enabled her to run at speeds exceeding 100km/h
per hour. Incidentally, next year you will be able to see a movie based on this
series called ‘Six Billion Dollar Man’ – clearly there’s been significant
inflation since the 1970s.
Dave Hansen’s work and the work of
scientists like him is making six million dollar man and woman look more
possible every day.
Prosthetic
limbs that can feel, touch and interact with the human mind will happen in your
life time.
This is your
future – a world where technology is helping to achieve things that were
science fiction not long ago. Your education and the choices you make will
enable you to contribute to this world.
Your
choices will impact all areas of your lives, actually all our lives. You have a
choice to make the best of your high school years or fritter them away. You
have a choice about how hard you work, the effort you are prepared to put in,
how you manage peer pressure. You have a choice about how you respond when you
are harassed by someone or you see an injustice affecting someone else. Your
stance on violence, racism and sexism is your choice. The value you place on your
own learning and the learning of others is also your choice.
These
habits of mind have been at the forefront of your education at our school. We want our students to develop, not
just as learners and inquirers, but as thoughtful, caring human beings, ready
to take the first steps towards making their
world a better place.
Teaching
you about relationships, effort and choice has been at the core of everything
we do at Peregian Springs SS. The ultimate reward for your teachers, teacher
aides, our school leaders and I is when we see you happy, managing yourselves
well, even in trying situations, and achieving your very best.
You
have had the benefit of world class teachers in every year you have been at
Peregian Springs. I’d like to thank Andrea, Justin, David, Chris, Sandy, Irina,
and Kent for the work you have done with our Year 6s. You continue to stretch
yourselves in the educational sphere and teach with innovation, passion,
courage and care – again this year you have challenged your students to learn
well; you’ve set high expectations; you have tried new strategies and new
approaches to learning; kept them on the straight and narrow; cared about each
and every one of them; and have worked hard to instil a love of learning they
will take with them to high school and beyond. Every child in front of me this
evening is a better person for your dedication and commitment.
And
this is true of all the teachers and teacher aides you have worked with this
year – Mrs Hobson, Mrs Ellison, Mr Rickert, Ms Deady, Ms Johnson, Mr Huxley, Mr Hutchins, Mrs Francey and Toni, your teacher aide.
Without
realising, you have learned an enormous amount from being at this school – not
just about English, Maths, Science and History but also about the more
important attributes of how to be a better person in this world, in this
country, in this community. Graduation from Year 6 marks the end of an
important chapter in your young lives. We hope that your time here has begun to
prepare you for the complex future ahead – a future in which you will realise
that you have the power for making something of yourself, and for contributing
towards a better community and world.
Every
Year 6 group offers us something special, enriches our school culture a little
more. You have grown up so quickly and we can’t believe you are about to go to
high school – and I’m pretty sure your parents can’t believe it either! But what
I love about each of you is that you still get involved, still run around at
playtime like mad things, still love a sticker when you’ve done something
amazing. We are going to miss you very much. We have been impressed with the
maturity you have developed, the level of conversation we can have with you,
your developing sense of humour and the ability to appreciate irony, a skill
that tends not to develop until early adolescence. We have been equally
impressed by your developing leadership and sense of responsibility and just as
importantly – your sense of fun.
No
matter where you go to high school, we will be watching your achievements and
hope that you remember your primary years with fondness. Thank you for being such
great kids!
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