Monday’s assembly was certainly one to try remembering. Although not as moving as the termly chanting of the school hymn, the school captain’s “passionate” rendition of “GOOD MORNING! CAN WE HAVE SILENCE, NOW, PLEASE” reverberated around Guildford, stunning the 1st Form, the Upper Sixth at the back and even Mr Foster in the RS base into an abrupt silence. A shocked Lorcan Read hastily introduced the weekly theme of “respect”, and its subcategory, self-respect.

After some usual staff notices, including the sailing awards from Mr. Witts and the aptly named History Award, we moved on to the Headmaster’s address. With a new batch of Senior Prefects, including the well-esteemed Alex Mann and the spirited, newly appointed sailing captain Haytham Rayner. Finally, the time had come for the esteemed deputy school captain, George Christiansen, to reflect on the weekly theme.

We began on the theme of social media; in light of Hammonde’s victory in House Debating, with the motion on whether phones were stupid, George clearly drew inspiration from his speech as second speaker. The brilliant analogy of Persian rugs, Roman mosaics, and Native American scarves helped me, as a fellow human, understand my imperfections and how I should uphold my self-respect, as to quote George, “only a GOD can be perfect.” I was taught how to have confidence in my character, have resilience in the face of criticism – most of all, the edifying message that I took away was about the life of La’Ve Jackson. To briefly recap, La’Ve Jackson was a raging alcoholic on the streets of Dallas, Texas, who rummaged around trash cans for 17 years to find sufficient nutrition for his feeble body. A stranger aided him in setting up a GoFundMe page, which enabled him to buy a house and become a motivational speaker who now talks about the issues that plagued him while he was homeless.

Ultimately, it was George’s passionate and motivational tone that truly roused the always-sleepy 5th form and made them pay attention to this very demure, very mindful reflection – and the final message that was hammered home still lingers in my mind today; there is indeed something oddly beautiful about our individual imperfections and something just a little boring about being prefect. On exit, commencing the beginning of the day, George’s resplendent aura could be felt from a mile away.