Thursday 30th March. Can’t quite remember it? It was the night you may recall hearing the thrumming of music, the sounds of excited schoolgirls giggling, perhaps harmonising with the chuckles of their male counterparts. Yes, I thought it would come rushing back to you! I feel I may owe you a little apology for that cheerful ruckus you may have heard was us, the Year 11 students.
You see, the Year 10 students enjoy a night of elegance mixed with the perfect amount of party in the form of their dinner dance, and the Year 12 students eagerly anticipate their ball which can only be described as the most glamorous night of their school careers. But what is there for the Year 11s? Breaking away from tradition that the Year 11 students don’t have an organised cohort social event, our year, already notorious for experiencing firsts within the school, was privileged enough to be treated to a night out on the Swan River for a river cruise, an idea championed by none other than Mrs Swain.
With the groundwork already in place, a vessel booked, a date chosen and tickets to the night already flying off of the digital ticket retailers’ shelves, Mrs Swain soon found herself up against the next set of challenges: Shall we decorate the boat? What about a theme? A dress code? With all these questions, Mrs Swain called upon those who knew what the students would like best, the Year 11 students themselves. A notice was sent to the students asking them to meet with Ms Fryer-Smith and Mrs Swain to discuss the vision for the night and, more importantly, band together in order to turn the vision into reality. This diligent group of students, who attended the meetings, became our highly respected River Cruise Committee and were set a difficult task to create a fun night which all members of Year 11 could enjoy.
However, this seemingly impossible task was achieved, through some great ideas and good old democracy. Within the first couple of weeks a theme was decided, being to celebrate the 1960s. For weeks the committee worked at lunch discussing, debating and, most importantly, planning the night, arranging all kinds of surprises so that the remainder of the cohort would be delighted by the vessel awaiting them. This secret society, the inner sanctum, kept a relatively quiet and low profile as they silently toiled away. With the night fast approaching and the date drawing near the committee’s meetings became more frequent and the sounds of scissors cutting, pens drawing and frantic exchanges of ideas could be heard most days, reverberating through the lonely corridors, abandoned by other students, whilst the committee continued to work like a well-oiled machine.
Then in a flash the night had arrived and the anticipation was palpable as students teased their 1960s themed outfits on social media, taking care to preserve just a little bit of mystery. Arriving at Elizabeth Quay to see my peers who, only hours earlier left school looking very much like students from 2017, and now appeared like 1960s film stars was magical. As we finished taking our countless selfies and began lining up to board the boat, I was reminded that years ago when my parents were at school they were not treated to events like this and, recognising this, I was immediately humbled.
As I carefully made my way down the stairs which led from the jetty and descended into the venue in all honesty all that was going through my mind was “Do not trip, do not fall” and don’t make a fool of yourself…I mean at least not that early in the night, right?
But with the short treacherous journey completed and with both of my feet planted firmly on our floating floor I was awestruck as the usual and typically expected neutral colours of our vessel were gone and in its place there was an explosion of psychedelic colours.
As I stood absorbing the atmosphere, flanked by scarily accurate imitations of Austin Powers to my left and a glamorous 1960s movie star to my right, I just knew the night would shape up to be very interesting indeed. With everyone aboard, the lights dimmed, the music began and our modestly sized dance floor soon morphed into a full mosh pit. We danced and laughed the whole night aside from our much needed food breaks, in which we restored our energy which had been lost by our questionable dance moves, with some top notch pizza and Krispy Kreme donuts.
The River Cruise was a night I would happily relive time and time again. It was a chance for us all to cease our respective existential crises and to just relax and be surrounded by those who we spend more time with than our own families. The night would not have been possible without the hard work of our beautiful committee and the equally magnificent Heads of House, Mr Kameron and Ms Shaw who also supervised the night. A special thankyou to Mrs Swain and Ms Fryer-Smith who went beyond the call of duty to ensure the night ran as planned. It is on behalf of all the Year 11s that I have the honour to say, thank you.
Written by Chloe Saunders (Year 11)