Out and About

World History Excursion

This is an image of last year’s World History group’s visit to the Jewish Holocaust Centre when we were enthralled and deeply moved by the story of Rosa Krakowski.  Below is a link to the Youtube Interview provided by the Centre.

National Young Leaders Day

On Wednesday 14 November 2018, selected students from the SLC travelled to the Melbourne Convention Centre for the annual National Young Leaders Day.  We got to meet many amazing people who shared incredible and inspiring stories about their lives, and how they got to be where they are today.

At the event we met:

Cosentino, a famous magician, who told a story about being creative and self-aware.

Holly Ferling, an Australian cricket player, who taught us that failures and setbacks are really just opportunities.

Liesel Jones, the famous swimmer, who told her story, saying that talent alone does not make you a success.

And finally, Uli Latukefu, who taught us that we should not let our experiences define us.

After each speaker told their story, we had the opportunity to meet them personally and get a picture or a signature. It was a great experience to learn about leadership and I can’t wait to go again next year.

Orlando Randles,

Year 9

On 14 November 2018, I had the opportunity to attend The National Young Leaders Day (or NYLD).  Hundreds of student leaders from schools as far as Mount Beauty came to the Melbourne Convention Centre to be inspired by other leaders from different backgrounds. Just being in a room with like-minded people was extraordinary.

Cosentino was the first speaker at the event and he is an illusionist and escapologist (pretty awesome, right?).  He talked about creativity and how he made his career by being himself. He was different and stood out amongst other illusionists. An interesting thing that he mentioned was that scientists believe that 50% of the jobs that young people will have in the future haven’t even been created yet. I think that’s truly inspiring for the people who don’t know what they want to do in life yet. With a lot of creativity and hard work you could make an entirely new profession for yourself. Don’t be restricted by what everyone else is doing.

Holly Ferling was the second speaker and she is an Australian female cricketer. She has had many injuries over her career, but she never gave up and kept on pushing herself to the limit. While she was recovering from a terrible elbow injury, she didn’t focus on what she couldn’t do, she focused on what she could do.

The third speaker was Leisel Jones, an Olympic gold medalist and former Australian competition swimmer, who talked about hard work. “Talent alone will not make you successful,” and she taught us that you must work hard. She also talked about strategies to achieve your goals, such as break big goals down into smaller goals. If you want to write a novel, set a goal to write a chapter in a month. If you want to go from getting a C on every Maths test to an A, try getting a B first. Most importantly, steady progress is the key.  You’re not going to get anywhere if you keep procrastinating and put it off until tomorrow. If you want to start going to the gym and improve your physical health, then you need to go consistently to achieve your goals, but first of all you need to start. Taking the first step is absolutely key to achieving any goal.

Uli Latukefu is an Australian actor and singer who is most famous for his role as Byamba in American Netflix series Marco Polo. He talked a lot about how being a good leader for others and spreading happiness to others also means showing a little love to ourselves. Mental health is important and, as a leader, it is easy to get stressed trying to do everything correctly. But all you have to do is take a deep breath in and out and remember that you’re going to be okay. It’s okay if you fail; you win some, you lose some. He doesn’t say that you shouldn’t work hard, just that you need to understand your limits and to be patient to achieve your goals. Set goals, but don’t beat yourself up about it if you don’t achieve them, just keep going and forget about the past; all that matters is the present. So, follow your dreams, and take your time. You can do it.

I learnt a great deal at National Young Leaders Day (as you can probably tell from this article!) and I highly suggest that you take some of these messages into your own life; I know I will. The day was an absolute blast, and I had so much fun just listening to these inspiring leaders as well as talking to student leaders from other schools. A few final messages from the speakers that I think are a great note to end on:

“The future belongs to the people who believe in the beauty of their dreams,”

“There is always learning to be had,”

“Success can’t be taught, but it can be learned,” and finally,

“Leadership is a quality, not a title.”

Oli Craig,

Year 9