Ebony's Dux Speech

Camden Haven High School 2020 Year 12 student Ebony Nicholas has achieved the highest ATAR (97.55) in the school’s history and won $55 000 in scholarships to attend UNSW, all amongst the trauma of the fires and chaos of Covid-19.
Following is Ebony's Dux Speech which was read out by School Captain Billie-Jane Ashton at the recent 2021 Awards Ceremony. Students present at the event were inspired by her words.

"Good morning,
It’s taken me awhile to make this speech, mainly since I started university quite early, but also because I have no clue what to write. How do you sum up 6 years of high school into a speech that is supposed to act as some kind of inspirational monologue for year 7 all the way to 12? I don’t know. So, I guess I’m just going for it.
Firstly, I want to make it clear that you don’t have to do so-called ‘academic’ subjects in order to succeed. While those subjects like math and science are wonderful, arts and humanities and everything else is equally as important and impressive. I really believe you should just pursue what makes you happy or what you at least partially enjoy doing. And by partially, I mean you don’t have to enjoy every assignment and textbook and piece of homework on that particular topic. Those probably won’t be fun, but you have to do that stuff to get somewhere better. And that applies to anything.
It’s like how I quite enjoy writing and drawing, but I haven’t had that much practise so it’s difficult for me, and I’m not that good at it. But that doesn’t mean I can’t improve, I only need to put in the work. Again, you can apply that to almost everything. While some people are naturally talented at certain things, they still worked to get there. And while some people just can’t fully grasp other things, that doesn’t mean they can’t try.
Secondly, try not to take things too seriously. I’ve been in Sydney for 5 weeks and already forget most of my worries from high school. While those worries do matter, and worrying about things is obviously valid, they probably don’t matter as much as you think they do.  Like right now, as I write this, I keep on thinking that I have to make it the perfect dux speech. But there is no such thing as the perfect dux speech, or anything. Everything is subjective, so as long as I make my words semi-speech like and say something semi-meaningful, it’ll be alright. Maybe even better than alright; it might be authentic.
In terms of actual studying and HSC tips, there’s not one thing that works for everyone. I found making lots of to-do lists and calendars of when things are due helped me, since it created a good visual timeline. However, I never created an actual study schedule for myself, as I found that just doing things and getting them done as soon as possible was what worked for me. I essentially slotted study into my life whenever I could, and went from there.
Finally, I would of course I would like to conclude my speech with a huge thank you to everyone who helped me get through high school and to where I am right now; my parents, my friends, all my amazing teachers and most importantly, lunch time handball in the senior cola.
Thank you all,
Ebony"