Thank you to my community

Beacon Hill High School, the school of hope, the school of dreams, but above all, the school of opportunity.

I am Alessio Marcus, a matriculant at the best school in the community of Mitchell’s Plain.

I arrived at Beacon Hill in my final term of Grade 8 in late 2017. In the early years of 2018 a teacher, Veda Manuel, approached me and nominated me to sit on the Junior City Council.

Through displaying my capabilities, I was elected as the Junior Deputy Mayor of the City of Cape Town. I never knew that this would possibly be the start of my journey. I then went on to be elected as the Deputy Speaker of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Parliament, Chairperson of the Representative Council of Learners in the Western Cape and the head boy of my high school.

I state all of this to openly express that if it was not for my high school, I would not have attained all the things I have achieved in my high school life.

The endless support of the staff, specifically my former principal, Gregory Kannemeyer and class teacher Muneera Hendricks has inspired me to keep on reaching for the stars. The look in the eyes of all the learners who directly and indirectly looked up to me gave me the will to work to the best of my ability as a young leader.

Each teacher who taught me or even teachers I came across touched me in some way. The positive and stern words they uttered reassured me that I would be able to achieve anything I wanted to achieve in this world.

As I say goodbye to Beacon Hill, my word of encouragement to the matriculants of my school and the country at large, is that we all have the ability to ensure that we become something in life. As we usher into adulthood, let us put our pride aside and make decisions in our best interest. Be open minded and ready at all times.

I would like to firstly thank God for carrying us through this year, I would like to thank my parents William Marcus and Chrystal Marcus, my sister Chiara Marcus and grandmother Aggranette Egypt for their guidance and motivation, I would also like to especially thank the Beacon Hill School Community the acting principal Melisha Benjamin, the teachers and the learners. To the matriculants of 2021, we have not come this far, to come this far. Life has just begun, let us make the best of it.