The end of one journey is only the beginning of another...

Our year eight coordinator, Mr Marlow, said at our very first parade, “Life is like a bank, you can only get out what you put in”, and I thoroughly believe that each of us in our own ways, have become very wealthy within our own memories and our schooling accomplishments. This is the week that is not only to celebrate but also to help us put a close to a chapter in our lives. A chapter that was crammed full of not only the torturous math lessons, the almost impossible early starts, the tiring and repetitive lectures on how important Shakespeare is to our daily lives, the hot and sweaty lunch hours, the tedious and monotonous assemblies that we were all forced to sit through and of course the long Wednesdays that seemed to drag on for days and days, but it also brings a close to the chapter that was filled with many happy and fun memories that we will hold close to our hearts forever.

Even though school isn’t always our favourite place to come, it is the place where our friends are. The friends that we have not only shared the boring and forced memories with, but the friends that have been with us, by our sides, through thick and thin; the friends that we have that special bond with that will last a lifetime.  Within our own classes, I think it’s fitting to say that we have managed to form a family-like bond with the people in them. For example our BCT class with Mrs Morrissey where we share everything with each other and crack a few jokes in between, leaving Miss reaching for the Panadol and massaging her temples even though we know she secretly loves us. Looking back, it’s times like these that made us drag ourselves out of bed for those dreadful 7:50 starts.  This is the week that we inherit what has been dubbed ‘the real world’ whether we like it or not, as the future, with a capital ‘F’, comes sooner than we expected and sooner than we ever wanted it to come.

We’ve all shared the same path for the past five years here at Coombabah, but now comes the time to go our own ways and put into practice the many lessons learnt and ideas gained. Our teachers have been our mentors, the people we go to for advice and knowledge, the people we have been taught to respect and look up to, the people that have become not only people but also our friends. Who knew when they first greeted us on that lonely, confronting and intimidating first day back in grade eight that they would mean so much to us now, five years on? They may not always be our favourite people but they are still the people that we have had to bribe along the way to achieve the results we will receive only a few days before Christmas.

We hope to keep in touch with our best friends that we have today, but ultimately many of those hopes and dreams will be drowned out by the busyness of uni life, work life and new friends as much as we don’t want it to. Nevertheless, our high school best friends, our high school enemies and our high school sweethearts will never be forgotten because inevitably, they are the people that have made us who we are and who we will continue to be even once school is finished.

So as we walk through those gates and proceed into the first leg of the rest of our lives, we know that we can always look back and remember all that was Coombabah State High School. The place that we learned to strive towards our dreams and never underestimate our ability, the place that developed us into the young adults that we are today ready to take on life’s challenges and the place that helped us to achieve and overcome our adolescent and immature dilemmas. Coombabah State High School has been our home away from home, our sanctuary, and our safe place. This school has been our rite of passage into the real world. So on behalf of the class of 2011, we want to say thank you to all of you out there that has contributed to the last five years of the greatest metaphorical roller coaster ride of our lives! A ride that has sadly and unfortunately come to an end.