Lessons in resilience part of Jack’s legacy

Tenison Woods College 2023 Shining Light Awards presented to four recipients at community function

Courage and resilience are words that readily come to mind when encapsulating the story of Jack Annear and it is those two qualities that have seen the former Tenison Woods College alumni honoured as one of four recipients of Shining Light Awards, presented at Mount Gambier City Hall on Saturday night.

Back in 2016, the Friends of Tenison Woods College (Old Scholars Association) inaugurated an awards scheme that has been put in place to recognise significant contributions made by former students, families or staff to the local and global community in order to inspire current and future students.

Jack’s elevation to this illustrious list is on the back of his tireless work in the space of road trauma in the face of his own experience in a horrific crash that took the lives of some of his mates and changed his and the other survivors’ lives forever.

“I must admit to getting a few pangs of imposter syndrome come through when viewing the previous recipients initially, especially those who were at Tenison around the time I was,” Jack said. “It is great though to see the importance the school places on my road trauma prevention work and it is an honour to be a recipient.

“I never set out on this journey of sharing my story with recognition in mind, but it does help silence that negative inner critic and feel validated about my decision to continue my work in this space.

“If it makes but one road user think twice and take an extra three seconds to make a decision on the road, then I’ll never stop sharing my story.”

And Jack’s story is a story of three seconds drastically changing his life and it’s all it took for three of his best mates to lose their lives and two other survivors have theirs irrevocably transformed. It was November 17, 2007, when two cars collided on Nelson Road at Yahl – a case of the world’s worst timing. Drugs, alcohol and speed were not factors, it was nothing more than a tragic accident.

Jack remembers precious little about the accident and much of the aftermath but he has spent years recovering from the physical injuries as well as the emotional toll, including survivor’s guilt.

Airlifted to Adelaide and spending two weeks in a coma, Jack had no idea why he woke up in a hospital and even then, news of the carnage was kept from him for a few days as he started the long road to recovery from brain injury, serious neck and spinal injuries, as well as a damaged kidney, ruptured liver and bruised lung.

He missed the boys’ funerals but on the 12 month anniversary of the accident he was part of the unveiling of a memorial dedicated to his mates at Vansittart Park.

Also, a couple of months before the 12 month milestone of the accident Jack completed the 6km City to Bay to raise funds along the way for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and with that got thrust into the spotlight and talking about his ordeal for the first time since that fateful day.

That was how Jack reluctantly became a public speaker, and what started as speaking as a cautionary tale for road safety and an advocate for road trauma awareness has shifted to focussing on resilience.

The Shining Light for his work has also given Jack pause to reflect on the role his time at Tenison Woods College played in his life.

“The sense of cohesion that the school community instilled in our year level was fantastic,” Jack said. “We had our 10 year reunion back in 2016 and a theme that came up throughout the night was how pretty much everyone got along with everyone. Whilst friendship groups guided who you hung out with the most, everyone had friends in other groups via different interests, sports or work that made for a super positive vibe permeating all parts of our schooling.

“Whilst it’s difficult to point to the exact reason for this, I believe it came through via the respect we received from the staff and Tenison Woods College community, in turn allowing us to respect ourselves to the point where we felt comfortable and confident enough to form relationships throughout the year level.”

Jack also singled out teachers Mrs Elliot Jones and Mrs Goulding who went above and beyond with extra help during lunch breaks so Jack could nail his biology and chemistry classes.

“To me, sacrificing their free time showed respect and a willingness to help foster that spark of interest, allowing me to excel in those topics,” he said.

Jack’s memories span his time at St Paul’s and Tenison Woods College, with highlights including winning a school drawing competition against older students, Year 12 retreat and time in the common room.

And he is also a strong advocate for not letting your studies to dominant your schedule.

“Extracurriculars matter,” Jack said. “There is always the temptation to stay focussed entirely on your schooling but so much good and opportunity comes out of being exposed to a new community of friends and mentors via social sports, volunteer roles or a high school job.

“You start building both your soft skills for future careers, such as teamwork and how to interact with people, and some of those mentors open up doors for you that you never knew existed.

“I have mentored university students for a number of years and, by the time you’re undertaking tertiary studies, the importance of networks is the most common piece of advice shared by my fellow mentors to land a job after university. Building that network early, by getting involved in one of the above, lays the foundations that future you can build a career off.”

He is also a huge advocate for getting organised – a skill he uses to this day as he juggles his career in the emerging industries space; his fundraising efforts, his public speaking and his young family.

“Organisation is equal to straight book smarts in my experience,” Jack said. “It may have taken me a while to grasp concepts back then however being organised, especially in Year 12, and keeping to my study plans, really helped minimise the stress as much as possible and turned what sometimes felt like elephant sized curriculums into bite sized pieces I felt I could manage.”

The other 2023 recipients are Andy and Annie Clifford and Pam Ronan and they will be featured in coming issues.

SHINING LIGHT AWARD: (Opp. page – Jack Annear has long been an advocate for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, given the role it played in his life; Jack addressing the Year 10 Tension Woods College students & Jack in hospital a few months after the 2007 accident and (above) Arabella Bhutia & Ruby Black interviewing Jack for Shine FM during a visit to Tenison Woods College a couple of years ago.