Joel's Journey

Joel Sardi suffered a debilitating spinal injury following a night celebrating a win by his football team. The injury left him quadriplegic.  A veteran of Afghanistan, an avid sportsman and young man finding his way in life, Joel’s life journey took a devastating turn that many would find unimaginable. However, Joel has transformed his world and embraces all that life has to offer, especially his wife and two young children.

Joel now spends his life as a motivational speaker, delivering a message of gratitude, resilience, and acceptance. Joel’s journey was not an easy one. He faced difficult challenges, both physically and mentally.  Instead of succumbing to his injury, Joel embraced the long road to recovery and, with steely determination, worked tirelessly to increase his mobility and strengthen his mindset.

Our Year 12 Cohort recently had the opportunity to share Joel’s journey, from his decision to join the armed forces upon leaving school, his service in Afghanistan, his harrowing accident, his road to recovery and his success as an individual, a husband, a father and a leader of the community.

Joel’s message is inspiring. He sees life as a gift. However, he also understands that life is not easy, and it takes grit and hard work to embrace the challenges that we face in life, whatever they may be. 

Joel is certainly one of the most inspirational speakers we have had at Epping Secondary College and his message is one that resonated with not only our Year 12 students, but also our staff members who had the privilege to join in Joel’s Journey.

Student comments:

Joel’s journey inspired me to achieve and appreciate things no matter what obstacles are put in my way.

- Nicole Boyles

What we learnt from Joel's journey was how to persevere in the midst of a life changing event. He taught us to always look for the positive in difficult times and that we can achieve our set goals if we put our mindset and effort into it.

- Ashtyn Lih

Joel’s Journey was really inspiring.  He showed us that you can achieve anything with ambition, courage and resilience. He didn’t let his injury define him or take over his life. 

- Sihan Saleh

Last term, we year 12 students had the pleasure of having a guest speaker come in and talk to us about the importance of having an optimistic mindset and staying resilient - the story of Joel's Journey taught all of us how to view the change of events from a different perspective, and how something that may first appear to be a negative impact in our lives can turn into a opportunity of success and inspiration for the people around us. 

- Abeer Kamal

Michelle Robertshawe

Yr 11 & Yr 12 Co Ordinator