THE CONUNDRUMS OF SUCCESS - the Gifted Development Center

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Lear from those who wanted to harm him. Without any relationships, Lear waspowerless.The message of King Lear is as powerful today as it was then. In the same way thatriches or prestige were never the measures of success for King Lear, in the same way thereal success of my peers and myself is not measured in cups and trophies, but in therelationships we have forged. Behind each success recognised here tonight is an immensenet of support.Friedrich Nietzsche once said ‘our greatest success comes not in our loudest hours, butrather in our most quiet’. When I measure my success over the last five years, I don’tlook to my academic record, but to thing we most take for granted; relationships.These relationships come in the form of family. Success is hugs from your parents, theknowledge that they are there to support you no matter what. Success is the knowledgethat you can trust your brother or sister. Success is being able to have a beer with yourdad, or a glass of wine with your mum. Our greatest success comes not in our loudesthours, but rather in our most quiet.These relationships come in the form of friends. Success is having friends you can feelcomfortable talking about anything with. Success is having someone who makes you feellike you can accomplish anything. Success is making friends in the places you leastexpect; the chess club, the drama studio, the bike sheds. Success is having a friend youwake up every morning and know you are lucky to have. Our greatest success comes notin our loudest hours, but rather in our most quiet.These relationships come in the form of teachers. Success is having enough respect forthat Economics teacher that makes you believe anything they’ll say. Success is being ableto laugh with that Media Studies teacher. Success is looking forward to that next periodof English, because you know it’s going to be fun. Our greatest success comes not in ourloudest hours, but rather in our most quiet.It’s scary how much we take our relationships for granted. When I look back on mysuccesses at this school, I am reminded how much I’ve been influenced by my family,friends and teachers. The true mark of success is recognising the part these relationshipshave to play in everything we achieve. The cups and trophies tonight, and this medal, arethe result of years of support, learning and love from all sorts of people.Ultimately, this medal is not mine. It belongs to hundreds of people from all walks of life.It is the result of hundreds of successful relationships that have empowered me andinstilled a sense of faith that has made this possible. Success is recognising that ourachievements are the result of influence from others. At the end of the day, I will measuremy own success at this College by my ability to influence others. Hopefully, someone atthis College will have learnt something from me, become empowered, and maybe evendriven to succeed. Because that influence is success.22
So in proposing my vote of thanks, I don’t want to only thank the College as aninstitution. My vote of thanks goes out to all the families of students here tonight. Myvote of thanks goes out to all my friends. And particularly, my vote of thanks goes out tothe incredible teachers of Saint Kentigern College, and the administration that supportsthem – the Trust Board, Mr Peat, and Mrs Winthrop. But highest of all are the teachersthemselves. It is their influence that is the real success tonight. Because, as Nietzschesaid, our greatest success comes not in our loudest hours, but in our most quiet.ReferencesBarth, R.S. (1990). Improving Schools From Within: Teachers, Parents and PrincipalsCan Make the Difference. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass Publishers.Clark, B. (2002). Growing Up Gifted, 6 th edn. New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.Fraser, D. (2004). The Giftedness That Dare Not Speak Its Name… Some EducationalImplications for Spiritual Giftedness. Gifted Education International, 18(3), 255-265.Gagne, F. (1985). Giftedness and Talent: Re-examining a re-examination of thedefinitions. Gifted Child Quarterly, 29(3), 103-112.Gagne, F. (2007). Talent Development: Exposing the Weakest Link. Warwick, UK:World Council for Gifted & Talented Children, 17 th Biennial Conference.Nippert, N. (2007). The price of prodigy. In New Zealand Listener, 208, pp. 14-19.Office of Educational Research and Improvement (1993). National Excellence: A Casefor Developing America’s Talent. Washington D.C.: US Govt Printing Office.Parkyn, G.W. (1995). To The Aesthetic Road: Neglected Areas of Giftedness: A Series ofPapers 1975 – 1984. Wellington: New Zealand Council for EducationalResearch.Passow, A.H. (1999). Educating gifted persons who are caring and concerned. In RoeperReview, 11 (1), 13-15.Renzulli, J.S. (2002). Expanding the Conception of Giftedness to Include Co-CognitiveTraits and to Promote Social Capital. In Phi Delta Kappan, 84 (1), 33-58.Silverman, L.K. (1994) The moral sensitivity of gifted children and the evolution ofSociety. Retrieved from www.sengifted.org 20.1.08.Silverman, L.K. & Miller, N.B. (in press) A Feminine Perspective of Giftedness.23
Page 1: THE CONUNDRUMS OF SUCCESSCathcart,
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Page 7 and 8: Two writers who have been particula
Page 9 and 10: Acknowledging that it is not always
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Page 15 and 16: more paintings to paint, more myste
Page 17 and 18: What do I do now that I can imagine
Page 19 and 20: question which would have seemed un
Page 21: As Roland Barth pungently reminds u

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