2023 College Dux Speech

Catherine McAuley College Bendigo was delighted to welcome back 2023 graduate and College Dux Tess Rule for the Laureate Presentation on Thursday 1 February, to speak to the gathered students, staff and guests. Her speech is reproduced below.

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I remember around this time last year, sitting in the audience of the Laureate Assembly, watching as the College Dux – Lochlan Eastwood – absolutely nailed his speech. And I recall thinking, good luck to whoever has to live up to that next year. And now here I am, standing in front of you all, expected to do just that. So I’ll try my best.

Year 12 is hard, as you tend to get reminded all throughout your years of schooling. In Year 12, it seems like all the years you’ve completed beforehand are just the warm up for the one year that counts. I didn’t start taking school seriously until around Year 10, when I picked up my first VCE subject – VCE History. Year 10 made me change the way I approached studying, not only because it was considerably more difficult than Year 9, but because I discovered that I actually really enjoyed learning when it was subjects I enjoyed. Finding interest in a class absolutely altered how I saw school. I was able to study at home and complete homework without perceiving any of it as a task. Instead, it became something that I wanted to do.

Because of COVID, I dropped a lot of the sport I was doing at the time. I was a pretty competitive person back when I was playing sports, and because I wasn’t doing that anymore, I had to find a way to channel that elsewhere. So that’s what school became for me, and I’d become incredibly competitive when it came to getting top marks in subjects. While it motivated me to study hard and try my best, I also found that it was not great for my perception of myself when I didn’t do well. At one stage of my schooling, I remember if I wasn’t getting marks in the 90s I’d feel like I was just failing. I felt I only had school, and that my marks defined a lot of my self worth. This was particularly prevalent for me during Year 11, when I received my study score for my first VCE subject and was pretty disappointed, despite still doing well. I knew I’d created an unhealthy relationship with school. So, in Year 12 I decided I’d try something a little different. 

In Year 12 I learnt what having a ‘balance’ between school and my outside life meant. In Year 11 I only had school and work, so this was a fairly big adjustment. I used to swear I’d never be the kind of person to go out and party during Year 12, given it was my most important year and it’s something I never thought I would be interested in. But I did, and a lot of the time it was to my parent’s disapproval – largely because they’d be the one’s picking me up at 12 am in the morning. However, being able to socialise with friends outside of school in this way was very important to me. I believe this somewhat shows that you can go out and have fun with friends on days off, whilst still doing well in school – as long as you’ve worked out a responsible balance. 

In Year 12 I gave myself more free time instead of working every spare day of the week, allowing me to continue the small things I loved, like reading and spending time with my family – who were my biggest support network during Year 12.

Ensuring you have something outside of school that you can enjoy for yourself is integral. For me, it meant the difference between doing well or burning out from the pressure associated with Year 12.

Because I’ve basically grown up with the group of people in my school year level, I didn’t expect to develop any more friendships, especially in my last year. Yet, I’ve made more connections in Year 12 than I have during any of my other school years. Not only with friends, but also with my teachers. Don’t underestimate how important it is to get along with your teachers. Not just their personalities, but the way they teach. This can make or break how enjoyable a subject is. During my Year 12, I was lucky enough to have quite a few teachers I got along really well with. In particular I’m really thankful for my Legal Studies teacher, Jo MacDonald. Her style of teaching worked really well for me, alongside the genuine care she had for us students and how well we did in that class. It’s one of the reasons I was able to do as well as I did, and why I’m so eager to pursue a future career in Law. Likewise, I’m incredibly lucky I had my Geography teacher and advocate Angela McIntosh. I don’t think I’ve ever been more comfortable with a teacher in my life, which meant that going to her class was something I was always excited to do, even on my worst days.

My ATAR score was 95.25, much to my own surprise. The top ATAR scores this year have been very close, hence, while I feel incredibly privileged to be able to share my Year 12 experience with you all, I also believe that many of the Year 12’s here today also deserve the same honour. The end goal of Year 12 for a lot of people, including myself, was to achieve a good ATAR score to be able to pursue a course to get into a desired career. For me, with my ATAR, I intend to go to LaTrobe University in Bendigo and complete a Bachelor of Laws.

However, now looking back, Year 12 was also about forming potentially life-long connections, working out where you want to go and what you want to do next- whether it be University, Tafe, travel, or a year of work – and enjoying yourself as you learn new things.

I wouldn’t say I miss school, because after six years you can get sick of it. I know that I’m ready to move onto the next stage of my life. But if I could do it all again, I think I’d try harder to appreciate the little things. At school I was able to see the people I care about everyday, to learn new things, to be educated, which is something I know I took for granted. It’s easy, especially during the earlier years of high school, to absolutely dislike school. I know I did. But once you develop a passion for what you’re learning, grow a supportive group of friends, and an interest in how well you do, not for other people – but for you, because you want to do well – I promise it’s not that bad. You might even find yourself doing better than you thought, and who knows? Maybe even duxing.

Thank you.