General News
21 October, 2021
Students kick back before exams
SENIOR students from Mortlake College and Terang College enjoyed their final day together on Wednesday before undertaking exams over the coming weeks.
SENIOR students from Mortlake College and Terang College enjoyed their finalday together on Wednesday before undertaking exams over the coming weeks.
Both schools treated Year 12 students to a morning tea as students signed each other’s shirts and reflected on what has been more than a decade of memories formed within each school community.
Mortlake College principal Sean Fitzpatrick said he was proud of the effort the school’s Year 12 students had put in to make the most of their education during trying times.
“Students always have mixed emotions at this time of year because it is the end of a pretty significant contribution, with 13 years of education,” he said.
“They realise the new world is coming up and they have all these choices to make and the responsibility on themselves increases.
“They’re taking it in their stride. This isn’t a large group but they are pretty resilient, connected and very close.”
Mr Fitzpatrick said the Year 12 student response to the challenges of the pandemic had been “amazing”.
“They don’t complain. I think this week they might have felt a little anti-climax because of the circumstance but I believe they have a real sense of gratitude and empathy,” he said.
“They look at other people and other situations and feel they’re not doing too badly.
“They have been impacted by the pandemic but they have taken it in their stride, got on with it. They have seen the end goal, got on with it and continued to work towards it.”
Terang College Year 12 students Adam Moloney, Gemma Parsons and Ella Sharp said the Year 12 cohort of eight students had supported each other throughout the year.
“It is quite exciting and there are a bit of nerves with exams coming up, but it has been a great year with this group of students,” Adam said.
“We’ve had a lot of fun and looked aftereach other.
“We kept checking in on and interacting with each other, we’ve all been working hard and we’ve met up as often as we could with the trying times.”
Gemma said her final day was “nerve-wracking”.
“It’s daunting to go in to exams and then know that it’s all over,” she said.
“It’s exciting that we’ll be going out in to the big world and exploring new things.
“I’m a little bit emotional after 13 years, I’ll miss my friends. It’s crazy that we’re all going to be leaving, but we’ll be adults now.”
Ella said she was excited for the nextphase of life.
“I’m a little excited to get to go out and discover the real world when the pandemic is over,” she said.
“I’ve never been one to feel stressed about exams. I am starting to feel a little stressed,but I have good support from the school.”
Ella encouraged her peers to push through the trying times and enjoy the good times ahead.
“Just keep trying because though it will be tough it will also get better,” she said.
“If you have great support then it will be easy to get through it.”
