SENIOR SCHOOL Head Prefects’ 2019: Excerpts from End of Year Speeches I started at Tettenhall College in Year 9 (in 2013) as a weekly boarder. The first night I didn’t dare to leave my room, but after that I never looked back! I stayed at Tettenhall College every night for the next month - even though I was supposed to leave on the weekends. In fact, it became so ridiculous that my mum had to call the boarding housemaster to tell him I needed to come home! But I wanted to stay in the boarding house because I had just made so many new friends in those first four weeks – why would I want to leave? This is one of the best parts about Tettenhall College: the exposure to international students, which has allowed me to meet so many new people and build a wide network of friends all over the world. I boarded for a total of two years and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. One of my many highlights at TC has been the sport. I came to the School as a cricket and hockey scholar, but ended up being the football captain and scrum half in rugby. However, the main highlight is my time as Head Boy. I have really enjoyed the responsibility involved and the fact that I get to lead my own team of amazing prefects. Of course, a crucial part of my time here has also been my teachers. Mr Seston (History) has been so influential, encouraging me to aim for the best grade possible by showing me the importance of education and where it can take me. The economics and maths departments have steered me towards my career choice by inspiring me to pursue a career in finance and investment banking. One of my main thanks to TC is that I arrived here as a sports scholar with no dream of becoming an investment banker, however I feel I am actually leaving as an academic, ready to pursue an academic university degree. Jack Pritchard, Head Boy We all have an untapped potential for skills and thoughts and can never even get close to fully exploiting it. The direction one’s life can take has so many possible outcomes that many of us get lost in this myriad of choices and give up before even starting to thrive. Us teenagers, till the point we hit adulthood, have a window during which we are still let off the hook for all kinds of socially awkward behaviour and weird emotional hypersensitivity. Our brain detects this window and is willing to take more risks in pursuit of one unique shape, outlined by an experience of life like no one else’s. Now is the best time to fail - we take it easier, the ramifications are only brief, the embarrassment - short lived. So, as we stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called ‘real life’, I want to praise the crucial importance of failure. Tettenhall College has given me the nudge I needed and provided me with a safe environment in which to fail as many times as I need so that, as I leave, I have a good taste of how bitter the pathway to success is, I have the advice of my favourite people in hand and I have less things left to fail at: I was blessed to have this opportunity. Knowing that every one of us is endowed with considerably more potential than we can use in our lives, this School has taught me that I owe it to myself to never fear asking about information I lack; never fear trying what I thought I was not suited to; to give maximum energy in everything I do and strive to achieve above expectations. Andreea Belebrov, Head Girl 16
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