The white honours blazer is one of the highest accolades that a pupil can receive at Northcliff High School. This prestigious blazer is awarded to pupils who achieve full colours in three separate disciplines within the school. Ricardo de Abreu was recently the proud recipient of the latest white blazer.
He was awarded colours for drama, athletics and hockey. Achieving full colours in three disciplines is no mean feat, requiring dedication, determination and effective time-management. De Abreu set his goal of achieving the white blazer five years ago when he was in Grade 8. He sat in assembly and watched a girl who was in Grade 11 at the time receive her white blazer.
He was awestruck and made it his mission to earn one himself. “A lot of dedication and self-discipline is what helped me to get my honours blazer,” De Abreu’s said. “I never gave up no matter how unlikely it seemed that I would achieve my goal. I managed to get two full colours in Grade 11, but needed one more. I only started playing hockey in Grade 10, so I had to work twice as hard to meet the requirements for a full colours hockey award in Grade 12. I am very thankful for the support of my friends and family in my endeavour to meet my goal.”
The advice de Abreu would give to any pupil trying to achieve the same thing is that one would need to be willing to spend hours to achieve full colours. “You have to be able to accept the lows that come your way – pick yourself up and carry on going. Never give up. Most importantly, this has to be something you want. Nobody can want it for you more than you want it for yourself.”
De Abreu has now pushed the total number of white blazers in the school to three this year.
