Student Leadership Report

Dear Saltwater Community,

We're thrilled to introduce this platform for our student leaders, where they can share their experiences, explore opportunities, and shed light on the behind-the-scenes happenings within our leadership circle.

With our newly elected student representatives, this term is dedicated to nurturing their leadership skills to help bring our school's vision to life.  We're eager to witness the accomplishments our student leaders can achieve with their newfound empowerment.

Youth Leadership Academy Australia's (YLAA) - Dream to Lead Conference Reflections

Will Massara is the founder and CEO of The Youth Leadership Program, which encourages young people to develop their leadership skills to serve the future.  He grew up in a rural region but still started a website at the age of 11. This website helped people understand planes. Years later he taught us that the first step to your dream is self-leadership.

“Your age does not determine your ability to achieve extraordinary things.”

 

Shivani ANANDBABU-5H Class Captain 

 Emily Nyeholt-5J Class Captain

SECONDARY LEADERS

This week, we had the opportunity to attend a conference focused on youth leadership, and it truly was an eye-opening experience! There were 1, 400 people from different backgrounds and schools, and we all shared one mindset and a goal- to become effective leaders in our communities and to create a positive change.

Inspiration + agency (initiative)= creating change

We heard from various speakers who each had various experiences. They shared their personal accounts on how to lead with integrity and empathy. Resilience is the ability to bounce back. We have to be able to accept setbacks, failures, and mistakes. It doesn’t matter if you look back and complain about it, nothing will change. Look forward to changing the future and leading your peers.

Ning Lee- 9A Class Captain & SRC Representative.

This week at the Dream to Lead Conference, we had the opportunity to connect with new and awesome students from around Victoria! The atmosphere was incredible, and the speakers were extremely knowledgeable and engaging. I learnt that resilience is the ability to accept and bounce back from setbacks, my knowledge and actions build my confidence, and my age does not determine me achieving extraordinary things. Overall, I’m glad that I got to experience this event with the student leaders of Saltwater. I’m excited and curious about what the year is about to offer!

Czar Nolasco- 9C Class Captain and SRC Representative.

PRIMARY LEADERS

BONNIE  RYAN-ROWE - Presenter

At the Melbourne Convention Centre, we were given the privilege to hear a lecture about Bonnie's story. During Bonnie’s schooling age, she used to look at other students and say, "Hey! Look at them, they’re popular. I want to be like them!" There were different friend groups, and they all were super good at something, and she wanted to change herself to fit in. Bonnie always wanted to have something that she was great at, but she never found anything until one day... 

Bonnie’s mum had enrolled her in an acting program. For once in her life, Bonnie felt like she was finally herself. She found where she belonged. Bonnie now has a bachelor's degree in acting/arts. She told us that you should never try being like others you just need to find what makes you happy and where you belong. Do what makes you, YOU! 

After this lecture, we learnt that you should step out of your comfort zone and take a chance because if you don’t take a chance, you’ll never know what waiting for you in the future.

 “Don’t change who you are, BE who you are.”

Zainah MOHAMMED ASIF - Freeman House Captain.

SKYE HUGES - Presenter 

Skye Hughes was one of the guest speakers at the Dream and Lead Conference. She told us about some of her funny life stories, like her nickname (Chucky and Unibrow) and how she moved into a caravan park! A few of the takeaways were we learnt from her story:

• Resilience isn’t the ability to bounce back, it’s the ability to bounce forward. 
• We are the leaders of tomorrow.

Thanks, Miss Grenfell it was an amazing day, and I am sure that the other captains agree too.

 Zoe PETERSEN - Class Captain of 5D.

LEADERSHIP STYLES & VOICES - Leadership Strategy

We learnt about different leadership styles and voices. Each style and voice is needed for different situations and contexts. 

• Director is when a person who stands in front of you and explains things but with a big clear voice. 
• Peer is when you work together as a team, explaining each other's ideas.
• Supporter is when you help each other. For example, if had to show preps around the school you would not be a director because that would be a bit scary to the preps. Instead, you would use a peer or supporter because that has a more calming voice.

Akira NARALA - 5F Class Captain.

STOP, PAUSE, PLAY - Leadership Strategy

All good leaders should have a good mindset. 'Stop, Pause, Play” is a step-by-step process and strategy to calm yourself down when you’re in a situation. This can be at work, school, with someone next to you, at the park and many more, places where the problem happens. 

For example, if you are having a fight with your friend at lunch, you can stop, by taking a deep breath controlling yourself, pausing, thinking about what you can do in that situation and lastly, playing. You can take necessary action on what you paused and thought about. This includes discussing what happened and why you or the other person felt angry or apologise and ignoring what happened in the past.

Shriyaa SATISHKUMAR - Freeman House Captain.