On Friday 24 February Brisbane Grammar School celebrated Foundation Day, marking the 149th anniversary of the foundation of the School on 29 February 1868. In examining BGS' history, Headmaster Anthony Micallef explored the School's commitment to the provision of a liberal education, and highlighted a number of prominent BGS identities from the past, focusing on the fifth Headmaster and Old Boy George Carson-Cooling.
This year's guest speaker, international social media speaker and marketing manager BGS Old Boy Adam Franklin '97, delivered a motivating speech urging students to undertake courageous work where risk is the price you pay for opportunity.
"My journey has been both unconventional and non-linear," Franklin said. "I embarked on an uncharted path and worked it out as I went. But today's speech isn't about whether to follow a traditional or non-traditional path, it is about finding your own path, whatever that is for you."
Franklin suggested that hard work wasn't always the key to success, but instead encouraged students to focus on challenging work, uncomfortable work and courageous work. "The freelance and entrepreneurial economy is exciting and these tremendous opportunities have only come about in the last decade," he said. "You can follow your dream, trust your gut and work it out one obstacle at a time. You can correct course and reinvent yourself as you go, that is all part of the journey."
Source: Grammar News Winter 2017. Read the original edition