At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Australia has ranked fourth in the medal count, and our past student, Alanah Yukich (Class of 2015), admirably finished in seventh place in the Women’s 400m Hurdles. Congratulations Alanah for your remarkable achievement. We are so proud of you!
It is easy to assume that these victorious athletes are on top of the world and fortunate to be in such a privileged position. However, upon closer reflection, we must consider the journey these athletes have undertaken to reach this point. The Paris squad includes three medallists from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, indicating that they have been in training for an extended period. Watching a golfer sink a long putt looks easy, but how many hours of practice and perseverance led to this extraordinary achievement? In 2022, Michael Phelps sank a remarkable 32.3-metre putt, considered the longest putt ever televised. This takes practice.
The athletes participating in the Olympics, many of whom are role models, exhibit dedication, tenacity, and “guts” beyond belief. In perfecting their skills and craft, they build extraordinary character while honing their gifts and talents. They realize their dreams, and their hard work is rewarded. Every day has purpose as they strive to achieve their goals.
Not everyone is or can be an elite athlete. However, each of us has our own dreams and goals, and in pursuing these, we build the skills and character necessary for success. Hard work and tenacity are essential and cannot be ignored. In a world of instant gratification, developing perseverance and grit becomes challenging, yet these qualities are necessary for the success we desire.
In schools, these very skills underpin deep learning. Learning is not just about passing tests or obtaining grades for post-school pathways but, more importantly, about building character and lifelong learning. Lifelong learning is the “ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated” pursuit of knowledge for personal or professional reasons.
Lifelong learning becomes essential in a world experiencing exponential technological growth, where devices provide instant knowledge. How do we equip our young people to understand that access to knowledge requires the wisdom to navigate what is profitable and what is not? This challenge may have been significant during the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, but it is even more so in the 21st-century technology revolution.
Just as our elite athletes work on their muscles, strength, skills, and mental focus to compete on the world stage, our young people need to sharpen their minds and use wisdom to navigate the ever-changing and influential world that technology has unlocked. Wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment—something we cannot simply give our children, but something that takes time and is attuned to character and lifelong learning.
As adults in our SCC community, we can equip and guide our children in the right direction. However, it takes all of us—the village—to raise these young people to become what they were created to be. It will take hard work, tenacity, and perseverance from all of us to guide our children in building character, embracing lifelong learning, and clearly defining their dreams and goals. I’ve heard it said that if you aim for nothing, you will hit it. Our prayer is that, as a community, we work together to raise our children to achieve their dreams with wisdom and a lifelong learning approach and, in this pursuit, understand their purpose. Perhaps we will see them in the future on the world stage and celebrate their hard work together with Australia. After all, we have seen this done before.
Dr Darnelle Pretorius
Principal