Morialta Citizenship Awards

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (15:56): Last week, I was undertaking a speech to recognise the winners of the Morialta Citizenship Award last year, and I did not have the opportunity to identify the achievements of all of them; I do take the opportunity now to conclude these remarks.

The winner of the Morialta Citizenship Award at Athelstone School was Aimee Pope, a year 7 student who shows exemplary behaviour and generous support to the school community. She is caring, gives positive encouragement to other students in the classroom and in the yard. She is a student who is a role model to all.

It was very unfortunate that I was not able to get to Basket Range Primary School to present this award in person last year owing to the fact that their presentations were on the same night as three other local schools where I was making presentations; theirs was the furthest away, so they missed out. However, I am very glad to be able to acknowledge Zara Baker in the parliament and record her achievements. Her passion and commitment led her to do a lot of work to help save the endangered Tasmanian devil.

With the support of her parents, she organised a school fundraiser to raise funds for the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program Appeal. She arranged for the whole school to visit Cleland Wildlife Park and meet with an education officer. That sounds like an extraordinary undertaking; it is worth noting the whole school involves 30 students. As part of the visit, students were able to dress in black and white for a $2 donation and were sold muffins at recess. Along with her own fundraising efforts, they raised hundreds of dollars for the appeal and Zara spoke to the school about the work and the need involved. It is a marvellous example.

Last week, I spoke about the significant achievements of Claire Coleman from Charles Campbell College, but I do not think I had the opportunity to talk about Abigail Guez, who is the winner from the Charles Campbell College middle school. Abigail is a consistently reliable, cheerful and positive member of the Charles Campbell College community, always willing to volunteer for a wide range of activities.

As well as being an exemplary academic student last year, Abigail was involved in a two-day external student leadership training course and consistently attended lunchtime meetings for student leadership and participated in new Student Voice initiatives. She is an enthusiastic student buddy for international students and was involved in Principals Australia Institute's Principal for a Day initiative. She was the most responsible and appropriate representative of the student body at the recent Council of International Schools accreditation.

Also at Charles Campbell College, in their junior years the winner was Gul Zehra. Gul is a highly committed student who strives for excellence in all that she does, proactive in volunteering, listens to feedback to improve her leadership and demonstrates initiative. She has always considered the needs of others before her own, and she demonstrates a deep understanding of the Charles Campbell College school values of respect, learning and excellence.

Last week I talked about Caitlyn Payne, the year 12 winner at Norwood Morialta High School. I am very pleased to talk about Lana Morro, the year 10 winner, whose mother does an excellent job on the school governing council which we were talking about on Monday night. The citizenship award was won by Lana Morro, who has a natural ability to engage with other students, gain their trust, and she shows genuine concern for their welfare and school engagement. Lana consistently demonstrates a mature and dedicated approach to her schoolwork, supporting her peers by offering advice when required and always being prepared to give of her time to support her fellow students. She is a caring and honest person involved in a wide range of extracurricular activities, a leader amongst her peers who is always supporting citizenship. She is a Zoo volunteer and involved in a number of conservation projects.

Darcy Strudwick at Paradise Primary School is active in school activities and sports and has been responsible for organising and helping prepare school sports teams, sports days, SAPSASA, pedal prix and carnivals. He has a commendable attitude toward sport and physical activity and computing skills and trained as a media operator to support the school and reduce the workload of teachers. He is a member of the school band and the Student Representative Council and always demonstrates a positive approach to learning and supporting fellow students.

Jordan Ciccozzi won the award at St Francis of Assisi for his significant enthusiasm and engagement as a school leader. He is focused on outcomes and no job is too great for him. His leadership is seen by staff as having a strong influence on those leaders and students around him. At St Ignatius College, it was awarded to Josh and Cassie Winkler, brother and sister in year 7, who are junior directors of their charity, Building Better Futures. They have raised money for villages in Cambodia and organised the UNPLUG fundraiser, where they involved students from the school. In the school holidays and for part of term 4, they visited Siem Reap to work at local schools. This was recognised in the Messenger.

At Stradbroke schools, Lauren Docking is involved in UNICEF. She helps in the canteen and she is a road crossing monitor, library monitor, recycling bins monitor, and she is Koonga House captain. Eden Menashe is a traffic monitor, serves in the canteen and distributes sports equipment in the sports shed. She demonstrates leadership and is a house captain and a UNICEF ambassador. Hayleigh Cameron is another UNICEF ambassador. She is a traffic monitor, helps in the canteen and distributes sports equipment. She demonstrates leadership as a house captain. Charlotte Christie at Sunrise Christian School is involved with Light the Night and the Leukaemia Foundation, raising $500 and another $2,000 in the City to Bay Fun Run.

Tayla Soja and Bianca Calipari at Thorndon Park excelled in a wide range of areas, demonstrating a sense of community and consistently volunteer for jobs around the school. They demonstrate leadership and reflect the great values and goals of Thorndon Park Primary School.