This year, marked the 37th Annual Presentation of Awards ceremony. For the past three years, the School has celebrated both staff and student achievements as a whole School in front of parents at the ICC located in Darling Harbour. At this ceremony, the Hills ‘Original’ Alumni Award is awarded to a past student of Hills Grammar to recognise sustained excellence in their field of endeavour. The recipient of the 2019 Award is Ms Rebecca James. Having attended Hills Grammar between 1987 and 1992, during this time, Rebecca’s leadership journey began with her being elected as the School Vice-Captain.
Her time at the School shaped her career. It was during her time at Hills Grammar, where her passions for the humanities, especially English and drama, and all things creative, were fuelled by her favourite teacher. Once graduated, Rebecca made the decision to be part of the founding team for what is now the largest independent digital advertising and customer experience agency.
At 27 she was the youngest Managing Director in her field with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and Wellington.
After a number of years, Ms James accepted the role of Chief Marketing Officer at a renowned Australian Bank. Furthering to her success, Ms James was voted #12 in the top 50 CMOs in Australia.
As her career continued, so did the leadership roles that she took on, including becoming a Chief Marketing and Enterprise Officer, and becoming a mother. One year into the role saw the biggest opportunity of her career as she was approached to lead a financial services company, making her the Chief Executive Officer. Rebecca is one of only 14 women to run an ASX listed business in Australia.
This Award was accepted with grace and valuable insight into the passion and opportunity that attending Hills Grammar invoked from within. Something she shared with the members of the School to create further motivation for our students to truly become Hills Originals with the message of ‘You do you’.
"Mr Smith, parents, teachers, students and alumni members, thank you for having me here today.
When I received the email from Liz that I was to be the recipient of this year’s alumni award I was quite overcome with emotion.
The school played such an integral role in shaping me, that to be honoured in this way is incredibly humbling.
I was privileged to attend the school from 1987-1992, and even then, I knew that it was a special time to be attending Hills Grammar. Creativity was the currency of the day – an era where the humanities reigned supreme with some incredible teachers who shaped and left a lasting imprint on me, along with so many of the skills and qualities which I rely on every day.
So, I would like to use this opportunity to pass on a few of the life lessons, that they instilled in me, as my way of saying thank you to them and honouring them in some small way.
The first of these lessons is to be brave enough to swim against the tide. Mr Richard Baines made ‘you do you’ a movement long before it was an Instagram catch cry.
To say that Mr Baines ‘taught’ English does not do him justice. He instilled a passion for creativity and storytelling, where conformity was the enemy of the day.
Above all else, he encouraged bravery. Bravery of thought. To be brave enough to try something new, even if it to ultimately fail. You had to be brave enough to express your opinion in every single class.
It was through Mr Baines that I found my voice, both written and spoken – and I don’t think I’ve stopped using it since!
With Richard Baines encouraging you to have your own point of view, it was Jan Brady who led History, who instilled in me the ability to use that point of view and construct it into a compelling argument. She instilled in me that people will only really remember three things. Have a power opening. It needs to be with conviction, a truly compelling thought. Back it up with three reasons why you believe you’re right, then you're done. It’s a technique that I’ve used in creating ads, the way I have discussions with the board today, and it’s probably even helped me win a few debates with my partner Adam at home.
The third life lesson was the art of the hustle. In year 9 I was lucky enough to be involved in the school production of Antigone. It was being directed by the Head of the English department Mr Robert Gaul. For Mr Gaul it was not enough to have a group of high school students tackle a Greek tragedy, it also had to be staged in an outdoor amphitheatre, the way the Greeks would have enjoyed such an experience. It did not bother him, that at the time there was no amphitheatre to speak of. Nor was there any budget or building expertise. We held fundraisers where for $10 you could create your own brick, imprinting your name and a message to be forever enshrined. He drew up the plans himself, long before there was the ability to google ‘how to build an amphitheatre’, and we set about carving our way into dirt and then ultimately rock and sandstone. In the last week before the production I don’t think he slept much, so determined was he to realise his opening night vision. And he/we did it. At 3.00am the morning of the first performance it was complete….only for it then to rain for three days straight, causing us to move all of our performances into the drama hall. On our final night though, the skies cleared. All of that hustle, the pursuit of something greater was rewarded, and the performance in the amphitheatre had a wonderful magical quality to it. I remember it vividly to this day.
The environment created by all of those wonderful teachers was challenging in the very best way. I got that deep feeling of satisfaction of having pushed myself to the outer limits of my potential. And I got to experience that feeling often. As a result, an environment that truly brings out the best in others is something that I try and create for the teams that I work in every day.
I’d like to now take this opportunity to thank my parents, Peter and Jan. As cliched as it sounds, it is not until Adam and I had Jude that I truly appreciated the love, the worry and the sacrifice that comes with being a parent. Thank you for every sacrifice that was made to provide my sisters, Erin, Briar and I with an incredible environment in which to learn and also where we’ve made our lifelong friendships, like the one that I have with Belinda. I met Belinda on that first day in Year 7 and she nominated me for this award and is here today.
And to my partner Adam. Thank you for always backing me. For encouraging me to say yes to every opportunity, and for being such an incredible father to our little boy.
To the students of today. Relish every moment you get to spend at this amazing school. Milk it for every opportunity. Say yes to everything. Give it your all.
Thank you"
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