Banksia Park International High School

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (15:29): Last week, I had the great pleasure of participating in a panel for the final presentations of the Global Citizens Medal at Banksia Park International High School. The Global Citizens Medal is a fantastic initiative of the school for year 12 students who demonstrate key attributes in leadership, community and advocacy. It is an opt-in initiative. Teachers and other mentors within the school often recommend particular students to participate in this process.

More specifically, the attributes that the students exhibit include being empowered humans, understanding themselves and how they learn best, having self-confidence and taking measured risks; thinkers and innovators, thinking about what needs to be addressed more broadly and being creative and entrepreneurial; communicators and team members, working effectively with others and fulfilling commitments; implementers and performers, managing time and priorities to achieve set goals; and advocates and contributors, taking action and speaking up when they see a need on both local and global issues.

The final part of the award is a presentation on a topic that the student is passionate about. This could be a global issue, a local issue or something else the student passionately believes can improve the lives of others. At the start of each of these presentations, there was a short segment where we went through essentially the CV of the student, including some of the volunteer and community activities they were involved with, and their sporting participation, which was really quite extensive.

All the presentations were very impressive and on a highly diverse range of topics. One student spoke about music and its importance in helping people in the community. He talked about how his own passion for music was used to entertain people and provide social activities for others out in the community. Two presentations were on the environment, particularly climate change, discussing the issue in a global context and what it will mean for future generations.

Importantly, they also talked about what they are doing in their own lives to reduce their own impact on the planet. I think it really showed a great deal of maturity on their part not only to talk about the importance of the issue but also to look at what they can do about it. There was a talk about youth involvement in the community, how important it is to engage young people and how best to engage them. There was also a talk about martial arts and its benefits, including physical and mental health benefits, social benefits and personal development benefits, developing discipline and confidence.

Three international students also participated, which I think is quite incredible in and of itself. It is often hard for anyone in those years completing high school, let alone for those who are doing it in another country, and they did their presentations in their second language. They tackled some very complex issues, including complex social issues that exist in their own countries. Other issues included orphanage volunteerism, where the student took us on their own journey of understanding this very complicated issue. Another topic was the prevalence of plastic surgery in South Korea. There were some really quite frightening statistics about how widely it is used in South Korea, particularly at quite a young age.

All these students demonstrated enormous passion for their chosen topics, but they were also incredibly well rounded, with impressive track records in their schooling and in the community. They exhibited leadership qualities and a real sense of community and responsibility in thinking about some of the issues that impact on our community both at the local level and globally. I would like to congratulate all the awardees on their work and look forward to seeing them receive their medals at the year 12 valedictory in a couple of weeks' time.

I would particularly like to congratulate the year 12 manager and assistant principal, Ms Bronwyn Eglinton, on her work in coordinating this award, as well as the other teachers and staff who were there to support the students. It is always clear when participating in these sorts of activities that the next generation has an enormous amount to offer. They think deeply about their place in the world and how they can improve the lives of others. Our responsibility is to ensure that we hand over the state, the nation and, indeed, the world to the next generation in good shape. What is clear, though, is that the future is indeed in safe hands.