Having commenced at John XXIII College as a Kindergarten student in 2007 and now completing Year 12 in 2020, I have achieved the status of ‘lifer’ at the College. As my schooling journey is coming to an end, it has encouraged me to reflect on my experiences at school and the opportunities that being at school has afforded me.   

 I am very much of the opinion that you must push yourself out of your comfort zone and try a variety of new activities in order to gain a well-rounded view of life and understand your passions. As school is a perfect place to do this, I have been a member of many musical ensembles, tried numerous sporting clubs and participated in other co-curricular activates including Sustainability Club and Mock Trials.   

 My participation in rowing is a prime example of the reason why you must push yourself out of your comfort zone and try new things to come out the other side a more well-rounded, confident and passionate person. It was an impulsive decision of mine in Year 8 to go to the rowing information evening. 

After deciding that there was no harm in giving it a go, little did I know that I would end up absolutely loving it and being quite successful. In 2018 I was selected to be a coxswain, representing the State in a schoolgirls’ team.    

Currently I am rowing at the West Australian Rowing Club, heading down the path of Nationals in the near future. This alludes to my attitude that you never know what opportunity or learning curve may arise when you push yourself out of your comfort zone. These clubs and ensembles have undoubtedly improved my organisational and communicational skills, but importantly have developed my leadership skills by allowing me to more fruitfully understand other people’s perspectives and opinions.   

I have a passion for learning and trying new things, but I also have a passion for serving others as I truly believe that no act of kindness is too small to make a difference in someone’s life. Possibly the greatest experience that I was offered during school was my Pilgrimage to India last year. This experience absolutely changed my life. Diving deep into a very different culture from my own, truly opened my eyes up to the world around me. At times it was confronting and somewhat unsettling, however I didn’t see this as a bad thing but more as an opportunity to learn.   

Being given the chance to meet children who had been victims of child trafficking, play games with children in the classroom, or even being welcomed into someone’s home made me appreciate others and their culture so much more. Perhaps beyond any other lesson I learnt that every person has a story to tell and experiences to share that we can all learn from. Although in the society we live in today it may seem that we are in our own world or living in a bubble, there is always a bigger picture and every single person on this planet is connected by an innate and inalienable dignity, hence we must always lift up all members of our community as we are only as strong as our weakest link. We have a duty to make others smile and to be that person who will ask someone their story, when others will just walk by.