By Camila De La Cruz - Graduating Editor of 2024
I’ve been brainstorming this article for years. I tend to brainstorm things that are important to me for a long time. I came up with my Year 12 jersey nickname in Year 9 (NaBrO for the win) and began planning graduation speeches for Year 12 months before they left. I’ve also started planning post-HSC parties well in advance.
But for most of this time, the final article was just an idea that was years away. I would think about it for a bit and then move on to something else. I’m currently writing this exactly one month before graduation, but it doesn’t feel like that. It only hit me the day before Trials ended, when I was in a public library with a bunch of stressed-out Year 12 students cramming for their Trials. I know it sounds a bit hectic, but it’s actually comforting to be in an environment where others are going through the same thing as you. But it was only then that I realised that we only have mere months left of being crazy Year 12 students just trying to pass the next exam. There will come a time when I’ll see Year 12 jerseys in Hornsby Library and realise that I am no longer one of them. I’ll see one of you Loreto girls and realise that I’m no longer one of you.
To be honest, that makes me feel really old. But whatever, that hasn’t come yet. For the moment I am still a year 12 student in the Mary Word, and I have one last chance to express myself to you.
I’ll start by giving the generic warning that most Year 12 writers here say in their farewell article. I can’t guarantee that amount of planning will result in a well-crafted article for you today. A lot has happened in the past few years, and I want to include as much as possible for my last word. But I will say that I tried my best to capture 4 years of being in this amazing extra-curricular.
I joined the Mary Word at the start of 2020 when I was in Year 8. I was interested in the Mary Word newspaper since Year 7, really. Perhaps I was too scared to join them or thought that I wasn’t a good writer, or that the Mary Word was only reserved for students who excelled in English and History. Still, I was interested, and soon enough I made it my goal to just try it should the opportunity present itself.
I still remember the exact moment I joined. It was the Extra-Curricular Fair in 2020, held in the DRC. Mr Scali and the editors-in-chief were behind the stall. Mr Scali told me and a few friends, “you can write about whatever you want,” and I instantly wrote my name down.
I still remember the lolly the editors gave me for joining.
Extra-Curricular Fair in 2020. If you look very closely, my name is the last one on the sign-up sheet.
And that was it. I submitted my (not-so-great) first article right before the lockdown hit. I saw the shift to online meetings, then the joys of coming back again, before being hit with another lockdown in 2021, and of course the many other transformations the newspaper faced over the years. Like how in 2021, I was the only person from my year group in the paper, which has changed drastically now considering the amount of Year 12s in the team. Or the numerous changes in rooming we’ve had, from the GBC 2.13, the Curran, AKA the birthplace of the Mary Word from what I’ve been told, to the teen rooms, and to now the 70s rooms.
It takes a while to find your style, or your ‘beat’ as many journalists would say. Like many at the start, I had no idea what I liked writing about, so I would just write about something that was closely linked to the theme, or I would just write what others told me to write about, even though I was not interested in them. To anyone who was like me back in the day, please, just write about what you want. I know that so many senior students will tell you that. The teenage years are for self-discovery, it’s a crazy time when you come to see the world from a completely new perspective because, for the first time, you see the world from your own perspective. This newspaper enabled me to discover the world from my view.
I’ve had many ups and downs over the years. The high of becoming an editor even if my application email had an embarrassing typo in it. And the low of not getting editor-in-chief, even when I put so much effort into the team for years. The high of receiving over 1000 views of an article on a topic that I thought was too niché or different for the school community. And of course, the low of barely receiving 10 views on another.
Let me just say, I will really really miss this. Over the years I’ve grown to take this extra-curricular as an amazing opportunity to discover and research about the things that I was truly interested in. I know for a lot of people in the Mary Word, that is politics and social justice, but for me, it was the arts. I have always loved talking about the arts, whether it be music or art or whatever. It is an expressive form that reveals so much about the world, so I loved having the freedom to explore the world of arts through this extracurricular. But I never saw the arts as a career option. This opportunity is something that I realised I might have next year as I go on to university.
So, in a selfish way, I wrote these articles for myself. I wrote them for what the process of writing would teach me, not for the sake of spreading a message to the school community. With each article, I defined my voice a bit more and got to know myself more, not just as a writer, but also as a person.
I’ll say this to future Mary Word members: know that I will occasionally google the Mary Word to peek at what you’re doing (2025 is the 10-year anniversary of the Mary Word so I’m expecting fireworks from you guys). Write about things that pique your interest, things that you care about. Enjoy the process of making these articles. I know sometimes it can feel like a chore, but if it feels too much like a chore it probably means your topic isn’t for you, so don’t be afraid to change it up a bit. Stand out from the crowd. Don’t write something that has been a thousand times before unless it interests you (I’ve seen way too many graduation playlist articles, but I’m not shaming you if you mention having good recommendations). And please, bring back these farewell articles, I haven’t seen them since 2021!
I tried to come up with a few words about my experience at Loreto in general, but honestly, I’m at a bit of a loss for words. I don’t want to mention the usual that most Year 12s mention, like Music Festival, Loreto Days, or sports carnivals (I want to say now that I never enjoyed sports carnivals and I like to skip them). I’m not as emotionally attached to them as a lot of people are.
Perhaps I’m just a pessimist, but my mind immediately draws to the negatives of Loreto. The constant fear that someone, teachers or students, is judging me and will inevitably talk behind my back. The entire Integrated syllabus, which to this day I have never figured out how 7 hours of Integrated per week is helpful. The whole of Homelands and FNQ that I never never never wanted to go to even though I was forced to. Thankfully, however, I was excused from the camp but to this day my blood boils and I’m not joking when I say I started shaking whenever someone mentions it. To Year 8 students who are experiencing the same thing, know that many were like you and hopefully there will be alternative options for you.
There was a period when I considered leaving Loreto. Coming from a public school with immigrant parents, the notion of a fancy private school scared me, and it was hard to adjust to Loreto at the start. I basically experienced a culture shock in my first few weeks. Don’t get me wrong, I did make some friends and enjoyed myself, but I did struggle a lot and just went to a dark place. It was there that I considered leaving for a school where most of my friends at the time were attending. But I didn’t, because I realised I couldn’t say no to this opportunity. My family had sacrificed too much for me to go here, so I had to at least try to make the most of it. It got better, then it got worse, and then it got better again.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that high school can be a rollercoaster at times. And I know some people experience the same things as I did. When it gets bad, it will get better.
And don’t worry. High school will end. Sooner than you think it will.
Before I finish, I wanted to give a few final shoutouts. Shoutout to Erika and Sophie who were with me during my first meetings in Year 8. Shoutout to Katharine and My for joining the Mary Word with me later on. Shoutout to Avery and Zoe who were willing to collaborate with me for a crazy 3000-word article on MCR. Shoutout to Mr Scali and all the other teachers at the Mary Word for giving me this opportunity and encouraging me to continue to write about what I enjoy. I can’t express how much the Mary Word has helped me grow as a person over the years. Shoutout to Laufey, Whirr, Dayglow and other artists I listened to when writing these articles. And shoutout to Rose who has been my friend in the Mary Word ever since we started in 2020.
And of course, shoutout to all of you who come back every term to read the opinions of silly little high schoolers every few months.
It’s weird to think that these words will be the last of thousands that I construct for this paper. Whenever I write articles, I like to have the conclusion mapped out in my head before I write. I don’t want my article to lead to nothing. This one, however, is not like the others.
But at least I have the assurance that this, all of this, was not for nothing.
So long and goodnight,
Camila De La Cruz
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