Civvy to Commando Presentation

On Tuesday this week, Year 11 and 12 students were privileged to attend a presentation delivered by the ‘Civvy to Commando’ Company. The presenter was an ex-student, David Coleman, who has served as a Commando in the Royal Marines. David has served in Afghanistan where he was injured in a grenade blast on a company operation but still managed to return to the front line a month later. David has also been deployed to other missions such as saving migrants at sea and several other overseas deployments. 

David spoke to the students about his time in Afghanistan and also his own personal struggles with anxiety, PTSD and overcoming his greatest fear of public speaking due to his difficulties with a stammer. David made it clear to the students how they could apply his life experiences to their own context. He discussed the need for developing resilience in the face of adversity, how to deal with feelings of anxiety and also the importance of speaking out about our mental health and asking for support when needed. 

David spoke to the students about overcoming the fear of failure in the build up to their exams and the need to prepare thoroughly, which will help to combat any anxiety felt. Several students came to thank David at the end of the presentation completely unprompted and we are very grateful to him for sharing his experience and wisdom with us at Wellington. 

Mrs Stephens