Adjournment Debate

Morialta Citizenship Awards

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (16:46): On this occasion, I wish to tell the house about the fine young people in my electorate who have received Morialta citizenship awards in the 2015 year. As I do every year, the Morialta citizenship award is offered to every school in the Morialta electorate for a fine young citizen who demonstrates the traits of good citizenship as a role model for their peers and as somebody who demonstrates that sense of service that puts one's peers and one's community and one's global community above one's own self-interest.

As ever, there were a range of excellent nominations put forward in each school, with all of these students who receive the certificate from myself along with $100 per school, which some of them split up and some of them give to one student in the form of a book voucher. I like to record their achievements in Hansard for posterity so that others may look at their achievements and see that role-model behaviour and so that their families and the students themselves can have it recorded for posterity.

In the Athelstone School, the recipient this year was Braxton Conradi, a year 7 student who shows exemplary behaviour and generous support to the school community. Braxton is polite, well mannered and helpful, works hard, gives his best in everything and has good academic performance. He showed good leadership skills in his role as an SRC executive and shows respect towards staff, students and all of his peers at the school.

Basket Range Primary School I was regrettably unable to attend at the end of last year, owing to the fact that the school assembly for graduation was in the same evening as two of my other school assemblies, and it is physically impossible to get to all three. But I am very pleased on this occasion to acknowledge that Marnie Houston was the winner of the Morialta citizenship award at Basket Range Primary School. Marnie was identified as working independently and confidently and being caring and thoughtful to those around her. Marnie has shown great community spirit and has great pride in the school.

Charles Campbell College is broken into three awards: one for the senior school (years 10 to 12), one for the middle school (which they identify as years 7 to 9), and one for the junior school (reception to year 6). This is, of course, a public school in the state system that, given the opportunity, has identified the value of middle schooling, with year 7 being taken in that middle school context. Hopefully, other schools in our public school community will have that opportunity in the future, but Charles Campbell College students are very lucky that they get that opportunity now. Anyway, I digress.

The recipient of the senior award at Charles Campbell College was Jasmin Peach. Jasmin is a friendly, respectful and hardworking student with excellent relationships with staff and students. She is a leader within the college and the wider community. She is a positive role model to all her peers and encourages participation in extracurricular activities around the school. She was the sports captain for 2015 and was involved in the development of the specialist sports program for both AFL and netball. The Newton Jaguars Netball Club and the Norwood (Redlegs) Football Club have formed this excellent coalition with Charles Campbell College that the students, the club and the community are benefitting from. We thank Jasmin for that work.

The Charles Campbell College Middle School winner was Abigail Guez. Abigail is a bright and friendly student who is always welcoming to new students, participates in a variety of school activities and achieves at a very high standard academically. She exhibits the school values of learning, respect and excellence at all levels, both at school and in the community. I am hopeful that Abigail will potentially be a future recipient of the Morialta Citizenship Award again in her senior years, and she has a couple of years to go.

The recipient at Charles Campbell College for the junior years was Larissa Collins, an all around role model student both academically and socially who has been committed to steering leadership amongst her peers and encouraging others to succeed in their endeavours as well.

At Norton Summit Primary School the award was split this year between two fine students. Norton Summit Primary School is, of course, a school well known to this house, as spouses of two of our members of parliament both work as teachers there, one from either side of the chamber. I know they are both excellent staff members at Norton Summit. We are grateful for their work and I was very pleased to see them on the day. At any rate, I digress again.

The recipients of the Norton Summit Primary School Morialta Citizenship Award for 2015 were Grace Playford and Miranda James. Grace and Miranda worked together over the year in helping a younger child with playing safely, mentoring him in appropriate break time play activities. They also consistently maintained the tidiness of the school's round room and were excellent buddy group leaders. Grace and Miranda were both very deserving winners of the Morialta Citizenship Award for 2015.

Norwood Morialta High School is also split into two awards, one for the senior campus (years 11 and 12) and one for the middle campus (years 8 to 10). The senior campus winner was a fine young woman called Shona Swart. Shona has taken on leadership roles within and outside of the school. She was president of the student representative council in 2015 and a vice sports captain in 2014 and 2015. Since 2014, Shona was a youth group leader at Knightsbridge Baptist Church. As a leader, she shows enthusiasm, displays initiative in proposing ideas and encourages others to get involved.

She is also an academic achiever with a passion for languages and an extensive extracurricular history, often relating to helping others who are less fortunate. She has participated in many fundraising appeals, such as the Red Shield Appeal and for the earthquakes that struck Nepal early in 2015. With a passion for human rights and global issues, she participated in the Young Diplomats Forum, the debating team and attended the Evatt all this year. She was a member of the social justice committee.

The middle school winner was Trent Cannons, a fine young man. Trent continually demonstrates a mature and dedicated approach to his schoolwork. He is very responsible and reliable, who helps other students within the community. He also engaged in a range of extracurricular activities during his years at the school. He is an active member of the SRC, and supports all the events and assemblies. Trent is an active member of the pedal prix group; the computer club, which he has promoted to students; and is a member of the jazz band and the musical. He is very community minded, as evidenced by his extensive involvement in a variety of school and community-based activities, and is a fine winner.

At Paradise Primary School, the winner was Alissa Booth. Alissa is a dedicated and positive senior student who has demonstrated the school values of excellence, responsibility and respect. She has excellent leadership and organisational skills. She was a house captain on sports day, leading SAPSASA sports teams, a monitor for traffic crossing and sandpit equipment in the sports room, and is a class representative on the SRC. Alissa has contributed to student voice, the festival of music and also to community events, Sunday morning barbecues and is an excellent role model for other students.

At Rostrevor College, the winner was Matthew del Corso. He was active in the social justice group for a number of years and is the social justice prefect for 2016. His warm, friendly nature is very much in evidence as he supports students of all ages and backgrounds within the college and the wider community. He completed a placement as a volunteer at St Patrick's Special School in 2015 and was highly commended for his ability to build relationships with staff and students alike. These qualities were also seen in his involvement in the Special Olympics project. Matthew is an extremely hardworking student who frequently supports others and is liked by his peers for his friendly attitude and positive demeanour.

There is a much smaller biography for the winner at St Ignatius College, but it is no less of an achievement. Thomas Pham, a year 7 student at St Ignatius College, identified as being a worthy recipient of the Morialta Citizenship Award for 2015. Thomas raised $1,300 for the 40 Hour Famine this year and has contributed to the wellbeing initiatives within the college. Thomas Pham is a very worthy winner.

We have two schools left. At Stradbroke School, the award is split amongst three recipients. Karia Spear was a UNICEF ambassador, a monitor in the library, canteen and sports shed, and a traffic monitor. She is a senior executive of the KidsMatter Representative Council and provides leadership on being a positive role model to the younger students. She also organised a range of projects for other students.

The second recipient of the Morialta Citizenship Award at Stradbroke School was Parveena Kaur. She spent countless hours engaged in community and service activities to assist others at Stradbroke. She is an extremely passionate and organised leader who embodies the core values which are promoted at Stradbroke. She is a house captain and canteen monitor and helps assemblies run. She has the extra responsibilities of traffic, sports shed and buddy.

Sevanah Hagidimitriou was the third recipient at Stradbroke. She is an outstanding year 7 student who worked tirelessly for her school community. As a house captain, she committed time to organising a team for sports day, organising activities for the PAL lunch time program and was a guide on open night. Another UNICEF ambassador, Savanna actively volunteered for committees to organise fundraising activities. Enthusiastic, dedicated to community service and friendly to her peers, Savanna has a positive outlook on life.

The last school is Sunrise Christian School's Paradise campus. The recipients were John Paul d'Assumpcao and Tahlia Calabrese. John Paul saw the devastation of Vanuatu on the news and led a stationery drive to collect books and writing equipment for donations to the College dLamap, a school in Port Vila. He appealed to the students in the school, spoke at the school assembly and church, and raised a lot of money. Tahlia Calabrese is somebody who has been a leader for sports day, an education leader, has helped at the Mother's and Father's Day breakfast and helps around the school. I congratulate all of the recipients of the Morialta Citizenship Awards for 2015. May they go on to great things.