The start of our year was going just as we all expected - we were the new year 13s.
We were excited to be together after the holidays, excited about the upcoming leadership camp and Fiordland tramp, looking forward to our final year.
Megan Finlayson was one of our class, and February 7 started out like any other school day for her.
She had class, she had homework, she was frantically organising the food lists for our camp, she laughed with her friends and sang along to the blaring music in the common room.
That night we had volleyball and Megan came to watch us all play.
The night was casual and filled with laughter.
But that night, our beloved Finny was unexpectedly gone.
Previously unsuspected heart disease took her away.
Losing her was the hardest experience that had ever happened to most of us.
She was a beautiful person, both inside and out.
She had already achieved so much in the short time she was with us and she still had so much to do.
February 22 started out like any other day in Christchurch.
Families were organising themselves, traffic started picking up, people bustled off to work and kids to school.
Workers, students and business people arrived for another day.
There was no warning of what would happen.
We were in the common room, music full volume, when the earthquake hit.
It was barely a shake to us, so nobody could have imagined the disaster that was taking place in Christchurch.
But we soon watched in horror the television footage of the effects of the magnitude-6.3 earthquake that had ripped through Christchurch, leaving families ripped apart, people dead and missing, and a city broken.
Although the earthquake didn't affect us directly, some fellow pupils and teachers had families and businesses in the city and were waiting fearfully for news of their safety.
And having already had to deal with the loss of someone so close to us, we empathised with the losses in Christchurch and endeavoured to do what we could to help.
We recently held a red-and-black mufti day and barbecue, and raised nine times the usual amount of money for those who had suffered so much.
Our school has had to learn a lot in a very short time - about ourselves, about each other, about how to react when something so tragic happens.
We have learnt to lean on each other, to support each other and to always look for the good.
Nothing could have prepared us for this year's twin tragedies.
But we know now that whatever happens, we can get through it together, as a school and as a community.
And in the end, that's what matters.
- By Mariah-Carey Broad, Year 13, Blue Mountain College
