Maroondah Youth Awards

Maroondah Youth Awards

The Maroondah Youth Awards were held on Tuesday 9 April at the Karralyka Theatre, where RSC was strongly represented in the areas of Creative, Personal Journey, Leadership & Group Achievement Awards.

The nomination categories for 2019 are as follows:

  • Leadership – an individual who has shown significant leadership qualities
  • Creativity – an individual for their creativity, skills and contribution through visual arts, performance, media, or another art form
  • Personal Journey – an individual who has demonstrated personal growth whilst overcoming challenges in their day-to-day life
  • Group achievement – a group of young people who have worked together to provide a service, program or project that has resulted in positive, youth-led changes in the local community

CREATIVITY AWARDS

Chloe Hazeldine

Chloe has contributed to the creative arts by establishing an individual style in both Visual and Performing Arts. She has showcased creative risks through experimentation with a variety of art forms.

 

LEADERSHIP AWARDS

Alice D'Arcy
Alice D'Arcy

Alice has been involved with student leadership for a number of years and was recently inducted as the 2019 Philanthropy Prefect and Head Prefect at Ringwood Secondary College. Her primary focus for the past 12 months has been to link the four Houses at Ringwood Secondary College, to a charity. This process involved Alice leading her team of four students to investigate charities that were aligned with the College values and House system, developing a survey where all students and staff voted for their choice, making contact with each of the charities and setting up the donation system. She is continuing this work and is making recommendations to the College about what student led activities will be run to raise funds for donation. Alice is a highly organised and diligent young adult and has been a key driver in implementation of this idea. She is a valued member of the Ringwood Secondary College community and we look forward to seeing her flourish in this role.

Mitchell Hart is a vibrant young adult with a zest for student inclusion and student voice. He was recently inducted as the 2019 Jackman House Prefect and Head Prefect at Ringwood Secondary College. Mitch’s focus for the past 12 months has been to work with his fellow House Prefects to develop student engagement and spirit through House activities. He has built his success on running student meetings, encouraging all students to contribute, being open and positive to all student ideas and documenting his work. Mitch initiated a lunchtime activities program that began towards the end of 2018 and aims to continue and improve on his idea this year. He is in his second year as a student member on the College School Council and contributes to decisions about the future of the College, including the current and ongoing architectural developments, camps, school maintenance, budgeting and day to day activities. Mitch is a highly organised and diligent young adult and is an asset to the school.

GROUP ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

This is a group of enthusiastic young performers who wrote a song with the guidance of the iconic indigenous artist Kutcha Edwards and Scott Wilson. They also interpreted one of Kutcha's works. These two songs were performed with Kutcha and Scott Wilson at the reconciliation ceremony at the Mullum Mullum gathering place and later in the year in 'the Backyard' at Eastland. During the rehearsal and performance period students engaged with the Indigenous community and learnt the true meaning of reconciliation.

 

STAND OUT GROUP

I am nominating the Stand Out group from Ringwood Secondary College for an award because they have tirelessly and passionately volunteered their time and energy to advocate for the rights of LGBTIQ youth within our school and the wider Maroondah community. Their recent achievements include facilitating workshops at the Whitehorse Youth Forum in 2018, which involved raising awareness of LGBTIQ experiences by courageously sharing their own personal stories. Other achievements in 2018 include a presentation/training for the teachers and leadership team at Ringwood Secondary College (a crowd of 150), and a presentation to 300 Year 8 students. In addition in 2018 StandOut raised roughly $2,000 which they have donated towards supporting youth mental health and LGBTIQ youth.

 

SWAT PROJECT

As part of the 2018 SWAT (Student Action Wellbeing Team) Leadership program, Ringwood Secondary College students Molly Phillips-Stone and Devesh Bahuguna targeted the increasing prevalence of unhealthy food intake in their College community, with a particular focus on the school canteen. In order to learn more about the issue, they conducted a school-wide survey about student's attitudes to the current canteen and their idealistic view of the canteen in the future. After analyzing the results they received, they found that students would like to have more accessible and affordable healthy food options in the school, as product placement, unclear menu presentation, and cost barriers had prevented them from experiencing this. Therefore, the Ringwood students came up with a tangible plan to tackle unhealthy food intake and presented a final report to their School Council. Their leadership skills and hard work were fulfilled when their recommendations were successfully approved. Their changes will be built into the next contract with the school's canteen provider, contributing to a more healthier college community.

PERSONAL JOURNEY AWARD

Matti arrived at Ringwood Secondary College in 2017, having fled his home country of Iraq, the city of Mosul. He and his family have endured life on the run from extreme terrorism, having had to flee many times. Matti is extremely grateful for the opportunities awarded to him since arriving in Australia. His love of learning drives him to excel at his very best level and has set high expectations for his future pursuit in Medicine. He has strong family values and deeply appreciates all that his parents have endured in order to provide a safe future for him and his siblings. Matti has a wonderful community spirit and has made a strong network of friends at Ringwood Secondary College. With all these character strengths he possesses, we have no doubt that Matti will see much success in his future endeavours.

Benn Jamieson

Positive Education Program Support