Halogen National Young Leaders Day
Each year, our Primary student leaders attend the Halogen National Young Leaders Day held at Melbourne's Convention Centre.
The guest speakers wove a common theme of resilience, perseverance, and humility in success throughout the day. The first speaker, Jacqui Bell, (the youngest person to run an Ultra Marathon on all 7 continents), spoke about relying on oneself. You would be so proud (as we were) to have heard our students immediately turn to each other (not the teachers) to comment on how she also needed God! What a privilege to overhear!
Interestingly, the speakers consistently reiterated the need to push through hard things, which led us to think about our school life, and not just the 'hard things' seen from a person who has succeeded in their field. How do our students push through difficult lessons? How do our students push through difficult friendship issues? How do our students push through the idea of going on camp? How do parents and teachers encourage and inspire our students to push through hard things and understand how vitally important it is for development? Adrian Beck (author) spoke about the role of parents and grandparents modelling values rather than talking about them. Reading (children watch), being read to (children feel connected), stories of overcoming setbacks (rather than allowing avoidance), and how passion for a particular pathway is just as important as academia, if not more so. Catherine Laga'aia, who plays Moana in the upcoming Disney movie, and easily the most popular, spoke about how expectation can lead to taking things for granted. How do parents and teachers encourage children to practise gratitude? How do we model the admiration of others' skills and help our peers to feel equally valued despite various levels of success?
It's a wonderful day with hundreds of students attending from all over Victoria and the ensuing conversations are richly meaningful. Please enjoy the following reflections from our student leaders.
The SP Teaching Team
Student reflections -
The voice of the speaker fills my ears. As I listen, my mind is ticking. The stories of setbacks are so big! I start to think what it would be like to go through those challenges. I was so inspired to push through all my obstacles big and small.
Seth N
The Halogen Leadership Conference was a great experience to learn about resilience and never giving up. My favourite speaker was Catherine. She acts in the new Moana movie and she's from Samoa. She told us how it wasn't easy, as she and another girl had auditioned to be in the movie. She didn't hear from them for a year, but then she found out that she had got the part! She said that it was really fun but she also felt homesick. She was so inspirational and a great example of how you should never give up. What I learned was that you should never give up and to try your best.
Joanna D
At the Halogen Young Leader's Conference, one of the speakers was the actor from the new Moana movie. She told us that she missed out on most of Year 12 but she did not give up even though she was far away from her family. The whole day was about never giving up.
Cooper G
I woke up feeling so excited I couldn’t wait to go to the Halogen conference.
All the leaders and Mrs Carlson and Mrs Taylor got on the small bus and went on our way.
We arrived at the Halogen conference. It was breathtaking! The comfy green chairs were so fancy and it even provided a small black table to write the questions down in our booklet. The first speaker was an incredible runner and she ran all over the world to the desert and Antarctica. Then we had snack time.
After we had a snack, we heard Catherine Laga’aia who plays Moana in the new live action Moana movie. Her story was really inspiring about how she became an actor.
After Catherine, who was an author told his story, it was really good to hear about books he has written and his life. Then we had lunch and went on a walk over the bridge.
The last speaker we heard was a guy who is part cow! He had heart surgery and because of that he is 1% cow and 99% human.
Before we knew it, it was time to go. I went home and told my mum about the great day I had. I love being a tribal leader.
Lila D
