Environmental Warrior Award

Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (15:50): I would like to take a minute to talk about the wonderful graduates who finished some of their educational journey last year in my community. For our year 12s, who are now planning their next steps, whether it is to enter the workforce or off to university or TAFE or even having a gap year, I know they all worked incredibly hard last year and they deserve the break. For our year 6s, who are now a week and a bit into the next chapter of their education, meeting new friends and teachers, experiencing exciting opportunities and a new style of learning, I would like to take this opportunity to wish them all an incredibly safe and happy year and hope that they do the best that they can.

Specifically, I would like to talk about some of the winners of the Environmental Warrior Award, which is my year 6 award for all the primary schools in my community. It is an award that is designed to acknowledge a graduating year 6 student who displays outstanding care for the environment and passion for climate change and does all they can to raise awareness within their cohort at school.

The winner from Belair Primary was Micaiah. She was a committed leader of the eco club every Friday lunchtime, demonstrating skills, helping clean up rokewood scrub, checking the bird boxes and doing lots of odd jobs that help the environment. Scarlett from Bellevue Heights looked after the chickens, repurposing old clothing to make library bags, voluntarily cleaning up rubbish from the schoolyard during playtime and embarking on several projects in teams to make a positive change for the environment.

Tim from Blackwood Primary, who was a prominent part of the Blackwood's Green Team, was involved in planting vegetables and harvesting them, watering the garden areas and ensuring that the plants and seedlings were taken care of. Lilly from Clapham showed strong passion for taking care of the earth and animals. She showed leadership skills in the Stephanie Alexander kitchen garden ambassador program that I am very fortunate to be able to volunteer in.

Zali from Concordia is a member of the sustainability group that meets each week. Involved in a variety of environmental initiatives, Zali was part of the tree planting initiative, maintaining the school vegetable garden and looking after the school chickens.

Zara from Coromandel Valley Primary School is an environmental science communicator, visiting the kindy and teaching others about caring for the environment. She spoke at the Nature by Night Festival with Green Adelaide, and she was also an environmental ambassador for Coromandel Valley through being a leader of the Tirkanthi action group.

Stefanos from Eden Hills Primary initiated composting in the upper primary because food scraps were just getting thrown in the bin. They built a compost tumbler and put together the school worm farm. Ale from Hawthorndene, who I have got to know quite well, has a daily routine on arrival to class that includes checking the conditions of various plants in a number of classrooms as well as caring for the numerous pot plants that he brought to school himself.

Jacob from Scotch College vocally and actively campaigned for the environment, in particular championing for reducing waste through the Golden Lunchbox Award, which is an award given to classes to bring nude food to school. Owen from Upper Sturt Primary consciously picked up rubbish and tidied spaces to ensure the area where he is is tidy and respected. He does not want animals to suffer from human impacts and takes steps to ensure their safety and survival.

They were all environmental warriors, and I was very proud to present them with their award. This year the award was made from completely recycled products that had been saved from landfill. An old decking post was turned into the discs. The plastic on top of them, which was made from recycled milk bottle lids and soft drink lids, was made by Daniel Mee, who owns Recycled Plastic Panels. Also, Julian James, using a CDC machine, was responsible for the engraving. Our Mitcham Young Citizen of the Year hand-sewed all of the lanyards that went with the award. It was truly a beautiful thing to be able to provide to the students. My hope is that the winner is inspired by the medallion and sees how so many pieces of recycled material and people had come together to create it, acting as a reminder that we can all work together to create a more sustainable future.

At Blackwood High School my senior school award is the Community Volunteer Award. It was awarded to Steven Raymond, who has been in the CFS since he was 11 years old as a cadet, following in the footsteps of his dad and his grandfather. At St John's, Chelsea Adams was the winner. I have been fortunate to spend quite a bit of time with Chelsea, as she is also a member of my Waite Youth Advisory Council. Both of these students work hard outside of school, volunteering and helping the community.

Last year, right at the end of the year, both of those students joined me to celebrate their win by taking a rooftop walk on Adelaide Oval as we scaled new heights, hopefully reminding them that the sky is the limit. Both of these students and all of my year 6s were incredible community advocates and I look forward to seeing what they can bring to the future of our community.