Page 26 - ES MAG 2018 dig

Being elected Head Boy and Head Girl is an Student Council
honour which usually comes at the end of many
years of contribution to the School. Current Head
Boy Aris Messios and Head Girl Eleonora Soteriou
reect on their time in their roles, while next
year’s leaders Michalis Kypridemos and Nayialena
Avraam look ahead to new challenges.
From Our Aris Messios 7G

Head Boy 2017-2018
Student Leaders Looking back and moving on
(or trying to)
Eleonora Soteriou 7B 7 years, thousands of days, millions of hours and,
Head Girl 2017-2018 most importantly, countless memories.

I’ve always been that person who, unless it’s happening My time at the English School has been a series of
right here right now, I’m incapable of feeling any kind events that changed me in every way imaginable.
of emotion towards that thing. But even now that the These years have been a time of development,
maturing and growing both academically and
end is here, for some reason it still doesn’t feel real… personally. Now that this journey is coming to an end,
I can only look back at every moment, every decision
It’s been an amazing 7 years in this school for me. I’ve gone from the little nerd in ever made both good and bad, and appreciate
year one, to the cool “I-don’t-care-about-studying” kid in year two, who evolved how these 7 years have been instrumental in shaping
into the condent and slightly unruly teen in year three, but who’s mind then my character.
decided to adopt a more existentialist way of observing the world in year four,
resulting in the constantly confused and frustrated weirdo in year ve, who came From the moment I handed in my application to
to her senses by the end of year six because of her loving and supportive friends run for Head Boy, I knew that my life within the
24 and who now, by the end of year 7, feels like I wouldn’t change a thing. School would change. The pressure of not wanting
to be remembered as “the guy who ran for Head
Oddly enough, running for Head Girl at the end of year 6 is registered in my Boy and failed”, in combination with exams made
mind as both one of my absolute favourite experiences but at the same time the whole experience the most stressful as well as
one that I would never want to relive – ever. It was the most stressful time of the most fun days at school. Wearing ashy t-shirts,
my life. It was so stressful that I hadn’t even realised I was stressed. For almost placing stickers in every place imaginable in the
3 consecutive weeks, my idea of sleep was simply dozing for less than 5 hours school (such as the roof of Mobile 5) and doing
a day and often waking up in the middle of the night. Food was only a few bites absolutely anything to grab anyone’s attention -
of the meal consumed at random times throughout the day. I could feel my all for one goal: becoming Head Boy.
heart beating so fast I would literally be out of breath – I always managed to
convince myself though that it was just excitement. Of course, after it was all Looking back now, I don’t regret a thing. All the
over my body broke down completely and I only got back on my feet after sleeping stressful moments, the pressure of deadlines taught
for 14 hours straight. But here’s the other side of it, which makes it all worth it… me how to prioritise eectively and organise my
time. This year felt like ve years crammed into
For the rst time in my life, I had proved to myself my full potential. It was one, but it also seemed to end before it begun.
something I wanted so badly that when the time came to pursue it, both my They say time ies when you’re having fun, but,
mind and body would not give up during the process; not once did I question the truth is, time ies when you’re stressed. There
what or why I was doing what I was doing. From this, I’ve learned that, if you are times I’ve felt stressed 24 hours a day, 7 days a
know that you’re going after something for all the right reasons, your mind week and at some point sleep has felt like a luxury
will have no reason to stop you or make you feel cautious. In fact it will - to be enjoyed only a couple of times a week.
somehow give you supernatural powers and help you to make it happen. For However, being able to give back to my school
example, despite the fact that I barely slept or ate, somehow every single day has made it worth every minute.
I woke up driven to do whatever was needed to be done (by 7am I had already
sent at least 5 motivational quotes to my amazing team in our group chat!). As Head Boy, this academic year has been a roller
Thinking back, I sometimes still don’t believe that these are things that I did: coaster in every way imaginable. Experiencing the
campaigning and promoting myself to complete strangers, having to answer School from a dierent perspective has allowed me
questions on the spot or giving speeches to the whole school. These are all to appreciate just how unique the English School is.
things completely out of my comfort zone. But I did them. Even though it
feels like that was a dierent person, I know it was me. And if I did them once Max Lodge 5Y
then it means I can do them all again.

Doing the actual job however this year also taught me a lot, especially how
to handle a variety of situations. Firstly, how to balance my social and academic
life even better in order to always be prepared to face anything unpredictable
that might come up at any time. Secondly, to nd the perfect middle ground
for parties in disagreement (hint: diplomacy – bring a new idea to the table
and convince both that your idea suits both parties perfectly). And lastly, to
not take anything too personally.