"Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again." - Nelson Mandela

This iconic quote strikes at the heart of the aspirations we have for every young man at CBC Fremantle. Resilience is one of the key attributes we seek to develop in our students, because success is rarely a straight line. The outcome seldom reveals the setbacks, disappointments, hard work and persistence that went into achieving it.

For many of our students, final examinations are approaching - the culmination of six years of varying levels of commitment, growth, and challenge. Eventually, a number will appear on a results page. What that number cannot show is the adversity a young man may have faced along the way, the times he struggled, the mistakes he made, or most importantly, how he responded when things did not go his way.

We see resilience demonstrated across our College in many ways. This evening, our Drama students will take to the stage. Performing in front of an audience requires enormous courage. There is always the possibility of forgetting a line, missing a cue or simply getting something wrong. The fear of failure can be powerful, but these students choose to push through it, support one another and step onto the stage regardless. That is resilience.

Of course, at this time of the AFL season, some of us are demonstrating greater resilience than others! Supporting a football team is perhaps a light-hearted example, but sport constantly reminds us that disappointment is unavoidable. There will always be losses, injuries, missed opportunities, and seasons that do not unfold as we hoped. What matters is whether we turn up again.

There is a growing concern that modern society sometimes seeks to remove every obstacle, disappointment and failure from the lives of young people. While this may come from a place of care, we need to be careful. Resilience cannot be developed without experiencing challenge. Our boys need opportunities to get things wrong, experience disappointment, accept responsibility, learn from it and try again.

At CBC, success has never simply been about the mark on a report, the ATAR achieved, the trophy won, the position attained or the recognition received. It is about every young person finding their place, discovering their strengths and striving to be their best.

Life will inevitably knock each of us down at different times. Our hope is that a CBC Gentleman develops the courage, character, and resilience to get back up, learn from the experience, support those around him and keep moving forward.

Perhaps Mandela's words provide the simplest measure of success: not how many times we fall, but how many times we are prepared to get back up again.

Mr Brent Butcher
Vice Principal