Great Scot September 2019 Great Scot 157_September 2019_ONLINE | Page 7

is opportunity for young people to become passionate
about something. The second most important thing
is to get them as good as they can be at that which
now rattles their cage. I suspect, that, within reason, it
doesn’t really matter what it is that grasps energies and
imaginations as long as it does so sufficiently enough
to be nurtured to mastery.
So exposed, being interested and acquiring a degree
of mastery becomes habit. Possessing interests, young
people are more likely to seek them out, attract others
with different passions and hone communal views.
Having tasted mastery, young people are more likely
to expect it of themselves, observe it, and learn from it,
in those they meet and in that which they undertake.
I believe such traits build a network of people and
ideas bigger than any individual and establish effective
habits of reason and the pursuit of truth.
In keeping with such spirit, recent weeks have seen
six Scotch boys participate in a Model United Nations
conference representing Belgium and Mexico, with
all debates and consultations conducted in German.
Thirteen rowers, in quad and eight, took to the
Thames and performed magnificently at the Henley
Royal Regatta, the eight making it all the way to the
final where they lost to Eton. Two Year 10 boys and
one Year 9 boy claimed Australian Scout Medallions,
while Year 7 and Year 8 teams represented Victoria at
the National da Vinci Decathlon finals in Sydney.
Demonstrating strength of intellect amidst
the stiffest of company, two boys earned bronze
medals when representing Australia at International
Olympiads, one in Physics (Tel Aviv), the other in
Mathematics (Bath, UK).
Over the mid-year break, 30 members of Scotch
Pipes and Drums headed to Scotland, our C Band
returning as European Juvenile champions at B Grade,
and our B team fifth placed at the Juvenile A Grade.
Thirteen boys embraced an expedition to South
America, 45 a science trip to the USA, while 53 young
Scotchies had minds stretched in i2 Science Camps at
the School.
In powerful endorsement of the times, the early
weeks of Term 3 saw four Year 11 students of our
Indigenous Programme head to Pontmain, France, to
participate in an international youth forum themed
Child Rights in Action: Children as Human Rights
Defenders, organised by Change France.
And, here along both sides of Morrison Street,
works continued apace on projects specifically designed
to bring people together in the sharing of ideas, stories,
memories, ambitions and talents.
Amidst the ever-expanding network of connection,
opportunities to demonstrate, and give form to, an
intellect multiply. The disruption of those cylindrical
tubes, and growing interactions of even our innermost
musings, increasingly expose thought to the messiness
of our condition – its desire for belonging, affirmation
and betterment.
It is my view that this increasingly shifts intellectual
thought to purpose, from mind to field.
www.scotch.vic.edu.au Great Scot
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