Scotch Reports Issue 178 (December 2020)

OLD COLLEGIANS
President’s Report
On 4 September 2020, SCOCA was invited
to talk at the Founders Day Assembly on
the topic of ‘the reimagining of Scotch’ and
more specifically, our hopes of the future.
With a lack of Old Coll’s events to report
on, we thought we would instead take this
opportunity to share what we shared with
the students.
Thank you for inviting me along to your
assembly today on behalf of the Old
Collegians Association. It is tempting to
think of an Old Collegians group as one that
is looking back on past events, past glories,
like a young Hamish Archibald beating his
twin brother across the line in the 1999
Cross Country [note: this may or may not
have actually happened].
But that is not the primary purpose of the
Old Collegians… our objective and motto is
‘Continuing Connections and Friendships
for Life’ which focusses just as much on
looking forward. So I am pleased to talk
today about hopes for the future.
When I was in primary school there used to
be an educational TV show called Beyond
2000. It was all about the amazing science
and technology that we would see in the
future: cars that fit into suitcases; jet
packs; robot servants and hover boards…
we would all have hover boards. Now I
haven’t seen too many hover boards yet
so I don’t want to talk about technology so
much as people, qualities and connections.
I’ve spent some time thinking about this
and reached out to our Old Collegians
Committee and here are our hopes [note: in
hindsight some may just be my hopes!] for
the future for the students of the College:
We hope that you all make the most of
every opportunity you are afforded in your
time at Scotch to develop yourself and
contribute to the College community and
the global community on whatever pathway
or journey you chose for yourself. You all,
through the good fortune of attending
institution, are presented with a wider and
more considered range of educational
opportunities than most. By developing a
yearning to explore these opportunities
and take on these challenges you will
nurture qualities that will better equip you
to deal with whatever the future holds.
We hope that the old Collegians
Association can help build a
bridge for all of you to remain
connected with the broader
College community once you cease to
be a student and we hope that our Old
Collegians Scholarship holders James,
Katelyn, Lily and from next year Meg will
help us to do this.
We hope that you take stock of what you
have had to deal with across the challenges
of 2020 and particularly in dealing with a
post COVID-19 world. We hope that you
realise the adaptability and perseverance
you have had to develop and demonstrate
to face these challenges. Whether or not
you realise it everyone has had to use
these qualities and they are qualities that
will serve you brilliantly for the rest of
your life. It is hard to think of qualities that
could serve you better.
We hope that next year we are able to
once again able to play our Old Collegians
versus Students sporting contests and that
I am up here presenting trophies and best
player prizes, but we also hope that you
don’t quite play well enough to beat us.
I hope that Campbell House wins the
Tug-of-War today and that they are
forever regarded in their true
place as the greatest House that
the College has ever seen.
24