Captains Corner

On Monday 3rd of March, the school captains headed off, with Mrs Scully, on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - The National Young Leaders Day! We started on our long journey bright and early at Glen Waverley Train Station at 7:30am. We hopped on a train and after what felt like ages, arrived at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. After heading into the hall (there were so many other schools!) Our host Andy introduced himself and played a few games with us (including a dance off which Ethan was amazing at). Then it was time for the first guest speaker!

The first speaker was named Thomas Duncan-Watt. He told us about his dreams as a young person to be a movie producer for Star-Trek and how he even made his own version of the popular series in his garage when he was 12! He taught us about following our dreams and how setting a big main goal is important for anyone aspiring to achieve something great. He also told us about the struggles of getting a job without experience and how he got through it. He recently published his first book titled, Seekers of the Lost Cavern - Tomb of the Zombie King. His book was available for purchase outside the hall. We even got the book personally signed by the author himself! His name first became recognised when he made a hit puppet parody of the popular TV series, The Golden Girls.

After a quick recess break (where we had out picture taken with Thomas), we headed back into the theatre for the next speaker, Catherine Laga’aia. The one and only live action Moana! Catherine spoke about how getting the role of Moana, in the Disney remake, came with plenty of sacrifices. She was isolated from all her friends because filming took place in Hawaii and everyone she knew was back in Australia. She comes from a family of musicians and actors and her role in Moana was her first major role in a movie. She spoke about how she had to miss much of her VCE year, exams and graduation but she pushed through knowing there was a light at the end of the tunnel. She spoke about how she hoped her getting the role inspired other people of Polynesian descent. Her speech was wonderful but next we had Emma McKeon.

Emma McKeon is Australia’s most awarded Olympian. She has won 11 Olympic medals over the span of three Olympics. She dreamed of swimming in the Olympics from the age of five. Growing up, she would watch the Olympians swimming and winning medals and decided that was her dream and she started working towards that goal. She is an amazing role model who is now retired at the age of thirty. She taught us all a few lessons to take with us but the most memorable ones are “don’t wait until you have reached your goal to be proud of yourself”, and “you cannot rely on ‘feeling’ motivated”.

Next, we had a lunch break and took photos with Catherine Laga’aia and Emma McKeon. We went back into the auditorium for the final speaker of the day, Majak Daw. Majak is a refugee from Sudan and an AFL football player. He told us about his struggles coming to Australia and why he left Sudan with his family. He spoke about how playing football at school helped him fit in with his peers and make a circle of friends. Majak explained the importance of mental health and that he had struggled with his own mental health and that it was vital for him to have some time away from football to heal. His speech was amazing, and we all loved it. 

Our amazing day had come to an end, and we were all pretty tired. Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to get a photo with Majak because we had a train to catch! We left feeling excited to tell all our friends and family about our trip. Overall, it was a fun experience which I hope to be able to participate in again sometime the future. Who knows? Maybe we will be back as guests next time?

Signing off: School Captains, 2025 😊