‘Give a busy person something to do and it gets done.’ Ethan from Year 12 has certainly been a very busy person this year, so he was speaking from experience when he used this statement to open his Hollaway Oration at this year’s Arts Awards assembly in September.
It's now ten years since Stuart’s passing, and both his mother Heather and brother Grant were very happy to be welcomed as special guests for the oration. Ethan used his address to encourage his peers to get involved, citing the many studies that have found students’ active involvement in broader school life is beneficial to their academic achievement.
He was well qualified to talk about what it’s like ‘keeping busy’ with extracurricular pursuits in the midst of Year 12: aside from spearheading WiSSH Week and organising the new Year 12 study area as Charities and Community Prefect, he also had lead parts in the play and in the musical, performed with three different choirs, did debating, went on music camps, went to Generations in Jazz, played school tennis… you get the idea!
‘When we know we have less time to do something, we prioritise,’ he said. ‘When we’re involved, we’re focused. We’re productive. We gain knowledge and better grades and even more valuable, we gain skills to use in everyday life. That’s the value of being involved.’
