Captain’s Assembly
The traditional first assembly of the year is the Captain’s Assembly where our Year 7s are welcomed to the Senior Campus and the current captains outline their hopes and visions for the rest of the year. All school and vice-captains from previous years are invited to the assembly and to lunch afterwards.
This year’s assembly was to be held at Plenty Campus to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the campus but owing to the severe heat conditions it was relocated to Buckley Hall at The Ridgeway Campus. Thirty-seven former Captains attended and a panel of four of them gave some insight as to their time at school and what being a leader has meant to them. Panel members included Mariko Lauber from the Class of 1995 who was our very first female leader at Plenty Campus in 1995, Stephanie Hardy from the Class of 1999, who was among the first ten girls to attend Plenty Campus in 1992, Ash Long from the Class of 1974 whose daughter Kristi was the first girl to be enrolled at Plenty Campus in 1992 and Graham Hawke from the Class of 1944 our oldest living school captain. Graham certainly entertained the students with his stories of the time the School was evacuated to Yea at the height of the Second World War in 1942 and 1943.
Our Grade 2s from Buckley House also joined the senior students for a rousing jazz version of the school song to end the assembly and send the captains and former captains on their way to photographs and lunch. Michael Bacskos from the Class of 2009 was the guest speaker at lunch. He congratulated our current leaders and urged them to make the most of the year ahead but to also appreciate that their learning, involvement and connection with the School as a captain will last well beyond this year!
