What does success look like when the applause fades?

Riley Swan, Year 12 Dux 2025

'I am not sure I will ever have quite the words for the gratitude I have felt over the past three months, nor the ability to share the true impact of the people who make up my life and all those who have made me a part of theirs. I have always held the belief that to have a village, one has got to be a villager; however, the sheer compassion, support and care that I have been granted from others is immensely beyond what I have given out into the world, and for that I am forever owing.

While my list of thank-yous is long, there are a few people in particular I wish to acknowledge today. Firstly, I would like to thank Mr David Mahlo and Ms Sonia Brauer for sponsoring this award, an award that inspires many students, such as myself, to work a little harder, inquire a little more and discover the light in learning. I would also like to express my admiration for both Mr Noack and Ms Koch, and the unwavering support they extend to those around them, every day. To my four Year 12 teachers, thank you for bringing back a genuine curiosity and childlike excitement for understanding and exploration that I was so convinced was lost. Mum, Dad, you are utter legends.

As a young person, it is a truly terrible blessing to have so much to worry about. There is no guidebook as to what is deserving of your attention, no clean-cut way to ration out time and energy. As someone who’s tried to fill every cup, it is my lived recommendation that you concern yourself with things that transcend social and monetary gain, with things that lend to more than just a larger following, perfect resume, or capturable life. Concern yourself with being kind, with paying attention, with laughter, whimsy and joy, with memorising street names and noticing the houses that go up for sale, with finding calm in the growing pains and watering the seedlings of the ugliest parts of yourself.

In the latter part of my teenage years, I found home in the trap of perfectionism. I plead you select a more worthwhile path. Truthfully, there is no reward for never making mistakes, no gold sticker for perpetually having the right thing to say, for always contributing meaningfully, for obtaining every mark and responding to all situations well. I am not saying to not wholeheartedly dedicate yourself to learning, to work, to friendship and love; I am however urging that you, every once in a while, at least three times a day, take a moment to be easier on yourself, to trust in the divine workings of the world and to shove any ounce of self-doubt under your bed with all the monsters and other fictitious things we grant too much attention.

Every day of year 10, I religiously begged to drop out, because I genuinely did not have the belief that I could graduate. The night before SACE released our Year 12 results, I tried to determine a number that I thought would appropriately reflect my efforts. I landed on 79, 20 points lower than true and a further testimony to the stupidity and waste that clings to not believing in oneself.

We get so hung up on this grandiose holy grail of being enough for the perception of others, it almost becomes second nature to forget that all the light you see in the world is within you, that joy seems to be the only point. It is good and well to be driven, admirable even; just make sure the things you strive for are a mosaic of you and not a plea to overcome external pressure, a performance to be liked. Do not evade opportunities as payment to the fear of failing or being judged, but instead use the fear as a reason to lean on your support networks, to be vulnerable, to appear passionate and strange, and to truly find yourself. Your journey doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s, and trust me when I say that you do not have to feel you are particularly brilliant or remarkable to be capable of brilliant, remarkable things.

For anyone who’s silently struggling, as someone who devoted many years to suffering, I want you to know that standing here today, I am truly happy, and as much as I hate to say it and you hate to hear it, all those people who will incessantly tell you, ‘it’ll pass,' they’re onto something. Amidst all the noise, the noise of proving yourself, of belonging, of choosing a career and making your parents proud, it is my sincerest wish that you step outside, recognise how gloriously tiny you are in this world and choose to be content with all you are, with where you’re at and the gift of the unknown. Thankyou for your time, my love to you all.'