Committee 4 Wagga
Congratulations to Ned Mackay, Jaya Pizarro and Celeste Crain for completing the Committee 4 Wagga School Leaders Program this year.
The impact of this worthwhile initiative was clearly evident for both students at the Program Graduation, where each displayed a growth in confidence through very impressive public speaking skills. It was wonderful to see how proud they were of their achievements and the gratitude they felt for the experiences the Program had provided them. The Program has clearly helped these young people develop deeper insight into what it means to be an authentic leader and how to work as a team. Both students particularly enjoyed expanding their social networks with like-minded peers across our local secondary schools. They also benefited from developing a better understanding of our local community, including more awareness about the different industries and employment opportunities available.
About Committee 4 Wagga
The Committee 4 Wagga is a member based, self-funded, independent organisation
representing over fifty member organisations that collectively employ over 4,500 people.
Committee 4 Wagga works with the community, local businesses and all levels of
government to champion positive change for a better city. Our core objectives are to:-
Enhance the quality of life within Wagga Wagga
Enable the community to initiate and effect positive change
Develop and expand a leadership base
Facilitate the interaction of community, business and government
Support a flexible and creative business culture
Partner to develop city infrastructure
Position Wagga Wagga internationally
About the Wagga School Leaders Program
The Board of Management of the Committee 4 Wagga believes that it is vital to provide opportunities for development to not only young professionals in the early years of their career, but also to younger community members, those still participating in secondary Education. The School Leaders Program is a Committee 4 Wagga initiative, supported by significant financial and resource investment from local businesses and the Charles Sturt University.
The Committee 4 Wagga recognised the importance of community leaders taking responsibility for the development of our city’s future leaders by providing opportunities such as this program to develop young, aspiring high school students into positive, successful ambassadors for the city. The Program was launched in 2016 and 2025 was the ninth year of participation.
Bookended by the Orientation Session and Launch in February and the Graduation Function at the end of term 2 in July, students selected by the participating Wagga Wagga high schools attended six single-day sessions and one evening session across the course of the first half of the school year, with each of the seven modules of the curriculum designed to achieve different learning outcomes.
The Program engaged students in a series of challenging exercises including
workshops, lectures, regional industry excursions, physical activities and mentoring
sessions to develop their capacity to become successful leaders and community
representatives.
Participation in the School Leaders Program should assist participants to analyse their
strengths and areas for development; enable them to set personal and vocational goals;
and, develop their self-awareness and self-confidence to ensure those goals are
achieved.
The group recently celebrated graduation with a night at Waggas Magpies Nest.
Each graduand had an opportunity to highlight an aspect of their journey through a speech.
Ned Mackay did not do a speech as he was chosen to be the MC which is a credit to him and his leadership capacity. I have attached the speeches with the permission of Jaya and Celeste.
Jaya Pizarro
The importance of passion and link to goal setting
The opportunity to be a part of the program
Relationships
Mentors
Three things I’m grateful for today. Hi, I’m Jaya Pizarro and I’m from Kildare Catholic College. I’m here today to speak on the importance of passion, setting goals and gratitude journaling.
Passion is a strong and uncontrollable emotion. Is it something that fuels motivation and drives persistence, fostering creativity and leading to success in various aspects of life. Passion inspires us to overcome challenges and reach our goals. Being passionate makes us feel more alive. It gives our lives colour to the ordinary, giving meaning to life and is a motivator for you to get out of bed every morning. If you don’t have passion, your goals cannot be fulfilled.
Goals. They are needed for people to feel a sense of purpose. Throughout the program I have learned about how goals are specific, desired outcomes or targets that individuals strive to achieve. Setting goals is important because it helps provide direction, motivation and gives a sense of purpose. Without goals, we are more likely to drift away and be unfulfilled. One of the goals I have is to graduate highschool and go straight into university to do event management. This is what drives me to do well in school everyday, it is my motivator and creates a sense of purpose in my life. It structures the way I think and the way I do things. Goals not only shape what you do, but also who you are and who you want to become. However, when completing these goals, you need to be your own cheerleader and have resilience skills to do this.
To set goals and be passionate about it, you need to be able to challenge yourself and be resilient to complete it. Gratitude journaling. I have done it every day since I learned about it in module 4. It's a simple habit that can deeply affect your life and help in building resilience to complete your goals. 3 positive things about your day, 1 person you're grateful for and 1 thing you're excited for the next day. Gratitude journaling. There are no cons, it improves mood, reduces stress and anxiety, boosts happiness which leads to better relationships and can also help in getting better sleep patterns. Gratitude journaling. It costs nothing and is a small habit that creates a big, long-lasting impact.
Passion, goal setting and gratitude journaling. They are not just concepts we learn about. They are tools we can use to shape our lives for the better. Passion gives us energy and purpose, goals give us a direction to stay focused and motivated to work towards what we want in the future. And, gratitude journaling helps us to appreciate the small wins and build resilience. Through using these skills, you can increase personal growth and success, which lead you through school and through adulthood. So, I encourage you all to find what you're passionate about, set goals that matter to you and take a few minutes to think about what you're grateful for. It might seem small, but it can change your life.
Thank You
Celeste Crain
Topic: “What have you learnt about yourself and others?” Align this to your leadership shield.
How would you describe yourself? If others were asked to describe you, would their answers be the same?
Good evening everyone, my name is Celeste Crain and tonight I am going to spend two minutes chewing your ears off about how one terrifying, one interactive, and one eye-opening experience in the Wagga School Leaders Program became three insightful lessons about myself and others. As well as how they each align to my personal leader's shield, which you can see behind me.
Now, back to my earlier questions. For me, both questions have gradually been answered throughout the program. Most notably on the terrifying day of Kapooka. Terrifying for me, at least, as by no means am I an adrenaline junkie, although I soon discovered a few in the cohort, in fact, were. On that note, I am well aware of my fear of heights, but if unknown, I definitely found out as I climbed the post to begin the high ropes course.
After some persuasion from the others below, I continued with a determination to get to the top, walk across to the log’s centre and jump off to be reunited with sweet, sweet solid ground. However, as I was finally ready to complete my plan, I ended up pushing myself to keep going, which led to me swinging in mid air! In short, there really is a lot of power behind simply being cheered on. I have seen it working to encourage others, but that day I became more aware that it works on me too. In relation to my shield, the encouragement of the cohort inspired the tower, symbolic of safety. Why? Because despite feeling vulnerable, I knew that I was safe and the group had my back, so, as a leader, I want to be that safe space for others, to be someone they can rely on, and to most importantly be that support.
Next, as you can see behind me, I have my own leadership shield design, influenced by my said experiences throughout the program. In addition to the tower inspired by Kapooka, among various elements, I have incorporated a blue wave and personal quote. On the interactive day of Module 3, we learned about the behavioural DISC model including types Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. I aligned with steadiness, which includes those who are calm and dependable, both characteristics which align with the blue wave displayed in the shield. On that day, I also deepened my understanding of the cohort and where they personally aligned themselves with the DISC model. Everyone’s behavioural type was emphasised as each group presented in a manner reflective of their respective model category.
Returning to the personal leadership shields, on the eye-opening day of Module 6, we each presented our shields to the cohort. Everyone had a unique illustration with similar elements but had their own individual meaning behind them, solidifying the quote by Dr. Seuss, ‘there is no one alive who is you-er than you!’.
So, during my experience as a part of the Wagga School Leaders Program, I learnt a lot about myself and others. The program was spent peeling back the layers of who I am, who the others are, and to come to terms with what that means moving forward. Personally? It means to be unapologetically me.
Thank you.
Matthew Conn | Student Academic Care & Wellbeing