32 The Chronicle 2021 33 Centenary Edition and leaders, musicians and teachers, people who will impact the world and cultivate change and justice. We are not the Grade who stopped, waited and failed; we are the men who persisted, persevered and prospered. The boys who entered the gates are not the men who will leave it. When we grow up reading about Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi... these are not heroes, they are options. Choose wisely. Kearsney is one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the country. Over the past 18 months, the school has shown its true colours, proving its brilliance time and time again. Thank you to Kearsney College for moulding myself and those around me into the people that we are today, leaders. Thank you for being a backbone to so many, and the home to refined excellence. In 1921, a school was founded with 11 boys, many traditions, values, and esteem. In 2021, that same school has those same attributes, but is now a place that 600 boys will forever call home. In 2016, former headboy of year 95, Luke Croshaw, stood up on Speech Day and ended off his speech stating that his time at the College was a gift, and that one shouldn’t take the experiences we have for granted. The context of his time couldn’t be more relevant to today. Croshaw’s words were “the world is so unpredictable. Things happen suddenly, unexpectedly. We want to feel we are in control of our own existence. In some ways we are, in some ways we’re not. We are ruled by the forces of chance and coincidence. All we can do is try our best, and live everyday as if it is our last, and of course Carpe Diem.” Rahul Paul Headboy 2021 2021 encompassed an aura that quite frankly tested our wit and our will till the very end. A lot of the ‘Kearsney Experience’ was undoubtedly lost over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those iconic sports fixtures, war cries and the faces that we all took for granted, gone. The boys, as a result, spent a lot of their time at home, without sports and their friends. This reality really impacted the Class of 2021. We had come to Kearsney with the promise of being the Centenary Class of the College. Little did we know. With that being said, as much as the boys may have grown distant from their home on the hill, the pandemic created an opportunity to connect with our loved ones. Time to talk, understand and grow closer to the communities around us. People. We had time to develop ourselves in whatever sphere we wished to succeed in at the College. Sport, Culture, Academics. We all had the opportunity to test ourselves and our resilience to excel in the midst of uncertainty. Many of the boys lost loved ones. I myself almost lost my father to COVID-19. It is only by God’s grace and the support of the College that we were all able to prevail. I feel that’s what has really sets the College apart from any other institution. What Kearsney is as a community. We have learnt to adapt to ‘life’, to make something out of nothing and to ceaselessly persevere whilst acknowledging that our greatest efforts may amount to nothing. These lessons very few get to learn at such an early age, and I believe it will prove to be of great benefit, and most of all, a story to tell. And when they ask what makes us different? Why is the name we bear one that is so respected and privileged? Answer simply that’s not because of the ties we buy, or the badge we wear. It’s about what we are. It’s about the lessons we learnt, qualities we possessed and the men we will become. Rahul Paul Extract from Headboy’s address to the boys at the final Grade 12 assembly Images from the Matrics last day Headboy, Rahul Paul, and Deputy Mhleli Khuswayo unveiling the plaque at the planting of the Class of 2021 tree. Scan to watch video of the Matrics’ last day
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