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I write this last newsletter
for Group 6 late on Saturday night. I have just come home after
checking that all the houses are secure and looking to see nothing
has been left behind. The Village is very, very quiet. All the
students have gone home and are no doubt asleep in their own beds
after an exhausting last couple of days. Somehow, this place doesn't
seem right when it is empty. None the less, I will certainly enjoy
a bit of a rest just like the students will.
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Mayor
Lou and Robert Marshall at Presentation Day
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This last week has been full
of all sorts of events. Last weekend of course was the Presentation
Day and all students had the opportunity to show what they have up to
during their time here. It was a special day with family and friends
making the journey to Clunes for the day. The rest of this week has
been focussed on transition preparing for going home. By far the hardest
part of the week for the students has been packing up their houses.
The very real emotions and experiences encountered will remain in their
memories for a long time to come.
I wonder what conversations took
place on the drive home and then in the hours, which followed? All of
the families will have to readjust with the return of an extra body
in the house. It will be an interesting time over the next few weeks
and I hope there are many discussions that draw on the experiences of
the last eight weeks. It is very hard to say what each student takes
with them from Clunes. However, what I do know is that what every person
in Group 6 takes with them is immense satisfaction.
I have heard some people talk
about the students 'surviving' their time in Clunes. I don't believe
this is the right description. Rather, students have begun a journey
in Clunes. Every minute of every day has seen them experience life in
its full intensity. The students have had their ups and downs over the
last eight weeks. This is, in part, exactly what life is all about.
Intellectually, we have demanded the students' grapple with questions
about themselves. They have had to take responsibility for their own
learning, for their own actions, for their own lives. This requires
students to take risks in their own learning. Only by taking a risk,
and really being prepared to venture into unchartered territory, can
we really learn about ourselves and the world we live in. The students
can create whatever future they want to create. It is their choice.
The influences around us are only as strong as we allow them. I think
the following poem says much about the spirit of what it really means
to be human.
To laugh is to
risk appearing the fool,
To weep is to risk appearing
to be sentimental,
To reach out for another is to risk involvement,
To expose our true feelings is to risk exposing our true self,
To place your ideas and dreams before the crowd is to risk loss,
To love is to risk not being loved in return,
To live is to risk dying,
To hope is to risk despair,
To try at all is to risk failure,
But risk we must, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The man, the woman who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing,
Is nothing.
Anonymous
What risk will you take today?
Robert Marshall
