Last Monday, the 2012 officials attended a workshop by Peer Power, a Queensland based company who specialises in youth leadership. During the workshop, the team showed us a scene from the 1989 film Dead Poets Society in which Robin Williams famously says, “…carpe diem, seize the day boys…”. This scene was shown to the 2012 officials to encourage us to make the most of the rapidly decreasing amount of time we have left at Perth College as Year 12s, and to try and fulfil the goals we set out at the beginning of the year as officials.
Personally, I think the philosophy of ‘carpe diem’ is embedded into every area of Perth College. Every day, girls take the idea of ‘seizing the day’ in their stride, making the most of the opportunities they are given. For example, last Friday, the Year 11 girls attended a workshop run by EGAMI Style, a personal and professional image consultant company. Additionally, the Year 10s are currently taking part in a specialised two-week Leadership Programme which is part of the School’s new InsideOut programme.
The annual Positivity Week organised by the 2012 Student Representative Council in Week 6, reduced the stress and nervousness amongst the Year 11 and 12 students prior to their two weeks of mid-year exams, encouraging them to also ‘seize the day’ and have a positive attitude towards their exams. Positivity Week was a tremendous success, with daily activities including a petting zoo, biscuit decorating, laughing yoga, faces painting, Zumba and donut eating running throughout the week for all year groups. The week was also a great opportunity for younger members of the SRC to take on leadership roles to help the week run smoothly.
This week at Perth College the Year 11 and 12s have received the results from their exams. Furthermore, we are also celebrating English Week, with many competitions and the annual English Play occurring to highlight the importance of English in the School.
‘Seizing the day’ is an attitude which is accepted by all girls at Perth College in some degree. Sometimes, there may be obstacles which make it harder to adopt this positive attitude, but most of the time it allows us to all strive for our goals and achieve our personal bests.
