Reunion Day Assembly Speech
Zibusiso Shongwe – Deputy Head Prefect
Good morning Mr Luman, President of the Old Boys’ Association, Mr Clayton, honoured guests, staff and of course the heart and soul of College – the College boys.
Reunion Day
Once a year, at the glimpse of a soon arriving cold winter morning, where many start to shiver, thinking it’s the weather but in fact it is the awakening of a long-awaited Reunion Week.
A time when old boys come back to a place, they call home.
Tomorrow, we celebrate a prestigious day in the Maritzburg College calendar where College boys and Old Collegians reunite, at this amazing oasis of excellence.
We College boys, get to reunite with Old Collegians who have walked these corridors, that are lined with the walls, that echo to our cries, the walls that bind the hearts of men.
We get to see and talk to our older brothers and hear their stories about their College days {Old Collegians have returned, to relive their experiences and revisit the memories of this place}.They’ve come to see their Field of Gold and soon to be Hilton’s heart of stone, Clark House, and the long-awaited taste of a zarm.
We have missed this. The whole of Maritzburg has missed this. College, we have missed you. It’s about time.
Just like branches of a tree, we all grow in different directions, but our roots remain the same. College is our home. The red, black and white is embedded in our DNA.
It’s amazing how quickly time flies. It feels like yesterday I was in 2nd form always arriving in class, sweating from running away from Zeus in the corridor.
Throwing our bashers as high as we can, waiting for the basher to come down only to realise it is stuck in the tree.
Arriving at Goldstones with a full voice, with a lot of heart and leaving without a voice but a lot of pride in our school.
We haven’t had reunion for almost three years and it’s safe to say that 60% of the school has not experienced a Maritzburg College Reunion.
The last three years have thrown up challenges, difficulties, and some disappointments, BUT the way I see it, this is a rebirth of a new legacy, this gives us the opportunity to create our own passion and our own definition of the Red, Black and White. Whilst, always remembering that the more College changes, the more it stays the same.
We will show the old boys, parents and the whole of Maritzburg what we mean by saying; once you got that taste you’ll never ever hesitate.
The boys from up the hill bleed black and white but when they step foot on Goldstones, we will add a bit of red, we will show them that there’s only one College and they will know.
So, when you step on that field tomorrow, Hockey, Rugby, on any sporting field, remember we don’t do it only for the badge and the boys, we do it because it is the College way.
Winning or losing does not define us
We know who we are
We know where we belong
Forever we’ll be the best, because victory is the only thought, the only thing that we have been taught.
Even when earth has taken back to earth,
College will forever be the pride of Maritzburg.
College is in Us and We are College.
Pro Aris et Focis