Mr Boyte says the letter arrived during exams and, although distracted, he read it several times. “Obviously someone had put a lot of effort into asking ‘what would I say to myself in year 12?’ It was cool to see that people cared and could see what was happening.”

The anonymous letter was one of 1700 written to year 12 students from schools in Melbourne’s north-eastern suburbs as part of #Year12Together, an initiative of the Help 3095 and Surrounds Facebook page.

While last year the Eltham group had several projects, including hero packages for essential workers and personalised care packages for local year 12s, group creator Patricia Callinan said it was the letter-writing campaign they continued with this year.

“Receiving letters is something that people don’t do anymore – it’s a lost art,” she said.

The campaign was in part inspired by watching one of her own sons struggle with his mental health while doing year 12 in lockdown last year.

“He actually ended up not getting the final ATAR he wanted,” Ms Callinan said.

However, after a year working as a furniture removalist and bartender (when lockdown permitted) her son had just applied to study nursing at Swinburne.

“Wait a few years and an ATAR means nothing,” Ms Callinan says. “My biggest concern is their mental health and this year’s kids have been through it for two years – they have done virtually their entire VCE in lockdown.”

This year, strangers sent letters to 1300 year 12 students from 14 schools, including Bundoora Secondary College, Eltham High, Concord, Plenty Valley Christian College, Diamond Valley Special Developmental School and Montmorency Secondary College.

One quoted Jedi master Yoda, the source of much of the wisdom in the Star Wars galaxy: “The greatest teacher, failure is”. Another referenced novelist Matt Haig, who at 24 wanted to kill himself and now teaches readers of his books how to keep going when the future looks bleak. All conveyed, in their own voices, ‘year 12s, you’ve got this’.

This year, Mr Boyte was among those who wrote a letter to a stranger.

Now studying secondary education at La Trobe University, Mr Boyte says the self motivation required for remote learning last year had equipped him for university.

“As someone who completed year 12 last year, I understand the hardships your final year during lockdown can entail,” he wrote.

Year 12s had discovered new ways to stay in touch, Mr Boyte wrote, whether it was through online games and chat app Discord, or calling each other and watching Netflix together.

“It goes to show how your creativity and mental effort are continuing to flourish even through all this,” he wrote. “So don’t give up …. The light at the end of the tunnel is so close.”

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