ELC Students Look Back and Thank Us

We appreciate all the thanks we receive – from parents, yes, but even more so from students. We were particularly touched to find one day in the post box a sentimental anonymous postcard and poem from a former student (see below).

It’s about our students’ future

We love hearing about the future adventures of our students and especially encourage Year 12s to keep in touch every now and then by Facebook or email as they plunge into adulthood. Even more exciting for us is when ex-students (and sometimes parents) drop by in person. Sometimes they are on break from the uni course they are loving; sometimes they have just returned from a round-the-world trip or have been about to move to a new city to start a dream job!

They tell us how large a role we played in their journey to who they are today. Though they may not have realised it when they were coming in to ELC each week, this is why we do what we do.

Schoolwork is secondary to the handshakes, the confidence building and the talk of realising dreams

When former students catch up with us down the track, they thank us for the communication skills, the self-sufficiency and confidence. When they’re with us they can’t help but feel like their next assignment due date is the be all and end all, but we have our eye on their road ahead.

Their current test marks will not determine their future, despite the pressure they feel from their teacher (and sometimes parents). But their approach to learning, their vision for their own future, their happiness and confidence, THIS will determine their future, this is why they thank us.

If you are a former ELC student or family, let us know how you are!

Here is the postcard, a little weather-worn, with the poem and a transcription below:

If I had stopped to say hello,
would you remember me at all?
I know it’s been a whole 2 years,
but I stand just as tall.

I probably still look the same,
but oh my how much I’ve seen!
I’m not the same person you knew back then
I’m so much more at nineteen.

You’ve travelled so far to see the world
and I’ve stayed right here
but I’ve seen so much of the world in people
over the past two years.

I wonder how much you’ve changed
Just as I have too.
Neither of us are the same anymore
I bet we’re both brand new.