VCE Achievers

 

Sienna Harris – Timboon P-12 College

Sienna is passionate about the environment, in particular the ocean, and has been an active member of the local Coast Care and Surf Life Saving Clubs for many years. She has been described in the press as an ‘environmental warrior’ and the list of her accomplishments is long.

‘The beach has become my life and there’s no question that it’s going to be my career’, says Sienna.

Community-based achievements

Following her passion for the environment, Sienna attended a two-day Power Shift Youth Climate Summit at Deakin University in 2010 and this year represented the South West Victorian region at the Power Shift Youth Climate Summit in Brisbane. Power Shift is a project of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition – an organisation whose mission is to build a generation-wide movement to tackle climate change before it’s too late.

In Year 10 Sienna undertook work experience at Coastcare in Geelong under the Department of Sustainability and Environment. Coastcare encourages community volunteers to care for their coast and this inspired Sienna to launch a Regional Youth Coastal Network aimed at educating students about the beach and encouraging them to meet regularly to discuss actions they can take to preserve our wonderful Southern coastline.

Sienna’s involvement in Coastcare has opened other doors; for example, the opportunity to talk at a Western Coastal and Marine Forum at Deakin University and at the Bellarine Catchment Network Coastal Forum in Queenscliff last year. It also inspired her to consider a career in the area of conservation.

Last year Sienna was appointed a Youth Councillor on the Corangamite Shire Council. This is a new initiative aiming to give young people an opportunity to have a voice and provide input into local government policy and initiatives. She was a driving force behind the petitions to government to reverse its decision to cut the Tuesday bus service between Timboon, Simpson, Cobden and Camperdown, a service essential to connect rurally isolated youth, elderly and the disabled.

Other local activities for Sienna have included the Our PlaYce Program where she was involved in organising a Battle of the Bands competition and other Freeza events. The aim of Our PlaYce is for young people to identify a need within a shire and devise a plan to address it. As a member of the Corangamite Youth Council and Our Playce Team, she wrote and submitted an application for a Women’s Leadership Grant in order to run a local Women’s Youth Leadership Day; assisted with the organisation and running of the annual Corangamite Youth Achievers Awards, and helped to open a Youth Space in nearby Terang.

School-based achievements

Sienna is both School and House Captain this year. She coordinated the school’s World Vision 40 Hour Famine program and regularly pitches in to help with a wide range of school activities such as musical productions, sporting events and canteen duty.

Future

Sienna has applied for a Bachelor of Environmental Science degree course at two universities – Wild Life and Conversation Biology at Deakin University and Ecology and Sustainability at Griffith University in Queensland. ‘Whatever direction life takes me, I know I will fulfil my dream of becoming an environmentalist. I would like to be able to give back to my community and enlighten and educate others about the importance of protecting our environment.’

Angus Pritchard – Plenty Valley Christian College

Angus is committed to making a difference in the lives of others. Through his interactions with young asylum seekers he has cultivated friendships and sought to make their lives better while in detention. As a volunteer CFA fire-fighter, Angus is responsible for protecting the lives and property of those in his community.

Community-based achievements

Angus was inspired to visit asylum seekers in detention after researching the topic for a VCE English oral presentation. ‘I wanted to escape the hysteria generated by the topic and explore for myself what detention centres were really like. There are people who are very vocal about this issue, yet few have experienced detention centres firsthand.’

On his many visits Angus was deeply moved by the plight of the detainees. Most were Hazara Afghan boys aged 16 to 18, alone in detention after escaping war and persecution. Many did not know whether any of their families were still alive.

The detainees rarely received visitors their own age so Angus was a welcome guest.

He describes the atmosphere at the centre as tense, and many of the boys were stressed and depressed about their confinement. Also the detainees only receive schooling on three days out of 25. So to improve their daily lives in detention, Angus persuaded his school’s art department to run lessons.

Like many teenage boys, Angus and the detainees bonded over sport. This inspired him to organise a soccer match between them and students from his school. Angus worked hard to persuade the detention centre management of the benefits the game could have on the detainees’ morale. ‘The detainees were really excited by the idea because it gave them something to look forward to. The game also inspired ongoing friendships between my school friends and the boys from the detention centre.’

Some of the asylum seekers Angus befriended have been released into community detention where they can now work and study. Angus still maintains close friendships with them; he has taken them on tours around Melbourne and has been invited to a premiere of a documentary featuring some of the former detainees.

For two years Angus has been a volunteer CFA fire-fighter for the Diamond Creek Fire Brigade. He is the youngest member of the brigade where he is training to extinguish different types of fire. He also educates the community about fire safety. ‘I love my work. There have been a few wake-up calls at two in the morning to attend traffic accidents in the cold and rain, but despite that I find it very rewarding.’

School-based achievements

Angus is coordinator for the school’s Youngbloods Youth Donor Program, which involves encouraging and organising students to donate blood. ‘By getting students to donate with their friends, it makes this potentially unpleasant experience easier to deal with and it also develops civic pride’.

Angus has been a House Captain for many years, leading and encouraging his House in many sporting competitions. As male valedictorian, Angus will speak at a school presentation on behalf of his Year 12 peers.

Future plans

Next year Angus would like to study for a degree in Bio-medicine at the University of Melbourne. After that he hopes to become a doctor in the Defence Force or work for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). ‘I really want to work as a doctor in the remote areas of Afghanistan, but all my Afghan friends think I’m crazy!’