From avoiding the limelight to being on the SRC

When King David Victory Park (KDVP) matriculant Benjamin Terner started high school after moving from King David Sandton, he barely spoke and avoided the spotlight. But, by his final year, he was standing in front of his peers as a member of the student representative council (SRC). 

“I often felt lonely,” he said. “But halfway through Grade 10, that started to change. I began talking more and making friends with people I’d never really spoken to before. By Grade 11, I was much more social, and it became a fun year. I was even becoming best friends with the new people I’d met.” 

The biggest challenge he faced was socialising, as he had been bullied in primary school. “I didn’t like talking, and never really felt seen,” he said, “It was a difficult time. I would wake up, go to school, and hardly speak to anyone. I found it boring, didn’t feel connected, and didn’t really care about certain subjects.” 

When he reached Grade 10, however, he decided that he would start putting himself out there and started talking to more people, which ultimately led to him being a part of the SRC. 

“It snowballed into me being loud and social. I quite like talking,” he said. 

While on the SRC, he oversaw its public relations and communication, starting a junior reporters crew across all school grades as well as running the school’s social media. 

The hardest part of being on the SRC was having to prioritise his time. 

It meant giving up many Sundays, coming to school early on some days, and staying late on others, time that could have been spent with family, friends, or studying. As the workload increased, he found himself working longer and later while still needing to get up early for school, which affected his sleep and energy. “It was worth it,” he said. 

When he put his pen down after his last exam, he said he felt relieved but also quite sad for his friends in younger grades who wouldn’t finish high school at KDVP, as he had loved his experience there. 

“I met so many fantastic people, and because it’s a smaller school, there’s a real sense of being one big family,” he said. “You become friends not only with people in your own grade, but across different grades through extracurricular activities and everyday interactions in the halls. You also build strong relationships with teachers, especially in Grades 11 and 12, when work becomes more serious but there’s still room to have fun.” 

Terner, who got a distinction, plans to  study a BCom Marketing Management at Emeris.