As you stand in the place I stood last year, I can completely understand the whirlpool of emotions each of you must be experiencing. The nervousness of the approaching board exams, the fear of leaving school and everything familiar, and the anticipation of the exciting things that are about to happen. I know that this rush of emotion coming at you all at once might seem overwhelming, but trust me when I say this, you are not alone. So I am not going to make this clichéd and speak about how school years are the best years of your life and how lucky you all are to call yourselves Scottishites because you’ve already heard it a million times and by now, you probably believe it too. What I am about to say is more of a piece of advice from someone who went through the exact same thing, not too long ago. First things first, the shift from Scottish to other schools/colleges is not going to be easy. The experience within itself is extremely daunting. Going from an environment where you’ve already proved your worth to a place where no one knows who you are. Through this, there will be days where you will wish upon a star to travel back in time and spend more years in school. There were days that I wished that, but it’s important to not give up because you can’t rely on your achievements from school to get you through the rest of your life. You’ve left your mark in Scottish, now you need to make your presence unforgettable in your new college/school too. Secondly, no matter how many new people you befriend, ALWAYS make time for your school friends. That doesn’t mean that you need to meet each other on a daily basis, but take an effort to stay in touch, because these are the friends you can count on being there for you when you are jumping with happiness or stress eating because of too much pressure. And the last piece of advice from my end is do not forget everything your teachers and this institute taught you, and by this I don’t mean you must remember the density of Mercury or the date of the Second Round Table Conference. Instead, remember the values that have been instilled in you and the lessons learnt along the way because Scottish has prepared us to face everything beyond those iron gates. So brace yourselves for 2017 as it is arguably going to be the most momentous year of your life so far. You start it off as Scottishites writing your prelims, and will go onto writing your boards, getting your results, leaving Scottish and ending the year studying in different institutions with a whole new set of people. Seems pretty crazy right? But trust me, though all of it won’t be easy, it will be a wonderful learning experience and you will be sure to create some beautiful and unforgettable memories as long as you remember to have “Perseverntia Et Fide In Deo”.
Yours affectionately, An Ex-Scottishite, Saluni Chandok