“I still think about SAMS quite often; they were some of the best years of my life, and I was very happy there. I was always a very scared and shy kid. At primary I didn’t do well at all; I hardly went to school and I didn’t learn anything. And then I came to SAMS in year 7. I hate change, and transitioning was really hard for me. I was really shy and would not talk to anybody – I had no friends whatsoever, I would sit out on the grass eating my lunch by myself, and I just wouldn’t talk unless I had a question in class. Year 7 and year 8 were a bit crazy, dealing with anxiety and change, and not having any friends. And then year 9 came along, and that was the year I started to settle in. I was doing a lot better academically, getting merits, and doing my best with the projects that I could. I socially started making friends – first by inviting the twins over to celebrate my birthday and then going on school camps and spending time with more people, and from then I gathered it was okay to make friends with other people.”
“We came into year 10 and it was really crazy, because by then I was pretty confident in myself. I had so many opportunities coming my way, and I thrived on helping as much as I could and becoming a leader. I learnt that I was different, but in that class everyone loved me because I was different. We’d help each other out as best we could. If one person forgot their book or food we’d always share. We all went through a lot, but we learnt from each other and were really supportive and understanding of each other because we knew what was happening in each other’s lives. We learnt how to understand each other better; we were a really connected class.
“I became the person I am today because I was mentored by the teachers there, had more opportunities than I did before, and grew so much more confident because of the people I was around. I really flourished within the four years that I was at SAMS. I just really don’t want anyone to take it for granted, because I think I took some of it for granted, and I wish I lived in the moment a bit more.”
– Emma Purves, SAMS Class of 2017