Wesley College Fourth Year Bonding Day

On the morning of the ninth day of the ninth month of 2009, we, the transition year students of Wesley College set off on our Bonding Day, before we received our Junior Cert Results. We piled on buses according to our classes at about 9 o’clock and made our way to Ticknock, where we would be spending our day bonding together and doing various tasks. Each class took a different route as soon as we were off the buses, walking up steep, stony hills, with the early morning sun blazing upon our backs. An hour later when we were half way up the first hill, my class, 4A1, was given our first task. We had to make the highest object out of raw and natural materials and place a tennis ball on top. We jumped at the challenge and began forming a mound of rocks and slates, piling them on top of each other, while other classmates went and gathered grass and wood. After a hard, grueling task, we ended up putting our school bags on top of each other and placing our tennis ball on top, like a cherry on a chocolate sundae. When that was done, we continued our way higher and higher up the mountain, so high up that we could see nearly all of Dublin, including the Luas Bridge, near my house. We soon made it to the top and stumbled upon other classes, doing tasks such as, sitting on one another while walking around in a circle, stomping on newspapers and untangling each other from a huge human note. Some of us thought that this was the end and assumed that we would be heading back to school now for our dreaded results from June but unfortunately for those people, as one student from 4A1 put it: ‘There’s ANOTHER mountain?!’ We sustained another hike up the mountain in the midday sun, with even more stone and mud along the way. Finally, we got to our destination, where nearly all of transition year students of Wesley were sitting, waiting and wondering what was going to happen next. I found my close friends and plonked myself down on the hard surface and begin to eat my long awaited ham sandwich, while listening to people around me. After half an hour of rest, we were asked to remove ourselves from the small hill, where all the teachers were standing. Everyone made a giant circle around the hill and witnessed something we had never seen before: Mr. Hart doing the ‘Hokey – Cokey’. Next thing we knew, we were singing along with him, kicking our legs out, linking arms and running up the hill, while laughing our heads off and others falling into the mud. After a few verses of the infamous songs, we were told that we had to venture back to where the coaches were waiting, to take us back to the place, where our destinies lied…in medium, white envelopes being stored in the main office, for which we would be holding in our hands in less than an hour. Clambering up the short steps of the cream-coloured bus, I started to reminisce, even only a few hours, about my fun filled day of finding out about people’s full names in my class and scanning through the numerous photos on my phone and wishing that it would never end. I found myself a comfortable seat and was taken back to the college. When we arrived back in the car park, we jumped off the sources of transport and journeyed to the Myles Hall, where we took our seats and wouldn’t stop talking, either about the fantastic day we had or preventing ourselves from passing out right in the middle of the room. Shortly, various teachers, was seen around the walls, as if they had sunken out of the wooden walls, holding our fate. The crowd went silent as Mr. Woods took the walk of pride along the front platform and gave us a short speech. I could tell many of us were listening intently as our eyes were glued to the front, afraid of making eye contact incase we get the sudden rush of nerves again. Before long, we were able to receive the results as soon as we knew what teacher was the first letter of our surnames. My friends and I leaped from our chairs and went our different ways. I made my way to Mr. Lydon where he said those fatal words: ‘Nadine Jones.’ I reached through the small mob of people and felt myself make contact with the thin piece of paper. I hesitated about what to do with it and it wasn’t until I was in the comfort of my own home when I plucked up the courage and opened the document and well, the rest is history but I will say one thing, for 20,000 out of 50,000 pupils who received A’s this year, I have to say that we all did pretty darn well.