Halogen Young

 Leaders Day

On Monday the 3rd of March, our school and vice captains went to Halogen Young Leaders Day. There were multiple guest speakers. 

One of the guests at the Halogen Young Leaders Day was Thomas Duncan Watt. He is an Author and a Screenwriter awarded for many shows, such as Home and Away, Space Nova, Beat Bugs and Deep. He said he had lots of trouble pursuing his dreams because everyone would say that he needs more experience. But the difficult thing was, that you need experience to get a job, and a job to get experience. People kept saying no to him but he didn’t take no for an answer. He said “every master was once a disaster, and everyone starts as a fail. But he said some people just give up, and that’s the end of their dreams, but he kept trying and trying and working his way up to the top and became one of the most known screenwriters and authors of all time. 

Another one of the guests was Ezra. He was the Co-Founder of ‘Dance Curriculum’ and a brilliant hip hop dancer. He taught us some awesome moves and dances and he taught us how to be focused and ready to learn in class. 

Emma Mckeon is a decorated athlete with 11 commonwealth medals and many more in olympic swimming. When she was 5 Emma decided she was going to be an olympic swimmer. Her idol was a female olympic swimmer which she would always watch while the olympics was on. On her way to the top there were many setbacks and one of her quotes were “Don’t wait until you've reached your goal to congratulate yourself” Which is an amazing quote for if you're feeling down trying to get to a new job or getting your childhood dream. She had many other good quotes and advice for others to achieve their dreams. 

Catherine Laga’aia was another guest speaker on the day, and is going to play Moana in the live action movie in 2026. She always wanted to be an actor since she was young and when she got the opportunity to fulfill her dreams, she took it straight away. But, there were a few setbacks along the way. To get to auditions, she needed to travel overseas. Unfortunately, a strike hit, meaning she was unable to travel. They told her that her chance might age out and it did. She was devastated, but eventually, she kept getting callbacks, and the opportunity was available again. She kept trying and trying, soon landing the main role of Moana, alongside The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) who will play Maui. There were many ups and downs, one of the negatives being that she didn’t have anyone her age. Sometimes she regrets accepting the role but she's also reminded how lucky she is to have been chosen out of many people. 

Majak Daw was born in Sudan and then moved with his family of nine to Australia as refugees. He started playing footy because he watched it every friday night and his school and it’s students were a big fan of it too. They played it on Saturdays, Sundays and even at playtime. Majak said that he wanted to try out for the AFL like all his friends. At first, they said that it was quite violent, but with a bit of convincing, they allowed Majak to play. When Majak was selected by North Melbourne, he became the first Sudanese-Australian to ever play in the AFL. His sister also became an AFLW player and Majak Daw helped her every step of the way. On just her eighth game, Majak’s sister won the AFLW grand final and Majak was so happy for her. Majak and his sister both wore #38 while they were playing for North Melbourne. Many kids look up to Majak Daw. He says “life can be challenging sometimes, but also rewarding, and it’s important to look back and see how far you’ve come. 

Halogen Young Leaders Day came with lots of positivity, laughter and amazing stories. 

It was a great experience for us all and we are so glad we were able to come.

Georgia, Micah, Sienna and Xavier