‘If You Want to Go Far, Go Together'
By Mr Andy Gordon, Deputy Principal and Head of Junior School
Congratulations to all of Radford College for our incredibly successful International Baccalaureate (IB) multi-program Evaluation that took place over three days last week. It was the first five-year evaluation of our Diploma Programme and our first as a multi-program. The visit was an incredible affirmation of the experiences our learners are involved in, the environments created by our College Board and staff, and our beliefs regarding the way young people learn through highly effective teaching.
Our community should be incredibly proud of the students, college services staff, parents, teachers, those with leadership responsibilities and board directors. Thank you for your support and commitment, which gives Radford College the courage and will to craft the best possible post-schooling outcomes for our learners.
I recently had an opportunity to learn from adventurer, entrepreneur and leadership consultant, James Castrission.
On 31 October 2011, James Castrission and Justin Jones set out to achieve one of the last great Polar adventures, an unsupported return journey from the edge of the Antarctic continent to the South Pole. This is a quest that has been attempted by many experienced Polar explorers before them ... and all have failed. This expedition was the modern-day equivalent of the exploits of Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton. They are man-hauling a pulk with 200kg of provisions each. (1)
As they arrived for their expedition, they discovered that a Norwegian adventurer, known as the 'Polar ninja', Aleksander Gamme, was aiming to do the exact same journey. Upon reaching the South Pole, James and Justin learned that Aleksander had arrived five days earlier. Their dream of being the first to achieve the journey, unsupported, were gone, but they didn’t give up. Although the two groups were theoretically rivals and despite the fact that he was several days ahead of James and Justin, Aleksander graciously waited for them a few kilometres from the coast so they could complete the epic journey and go into the record books, together (2). James and Justin asked Aleksander why he waited for them. He replied with, “I wouldn’t have achieved this without you. Knowing you were coming behind me, kept me going. I couldn’t go into the record books without you.”
It reminds me of the beautiful proverb, often credited to African tradition, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
We achieved a successful IB Evaluation by going together.
Going together in our families, in our work, in our relationships and in our learning brings out the best in us and in our shared outcomes.
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