Guess What?!

Hey everyone!

 

Every year there is a young leadership day for all the leaders or people that want to learn about leadership come to this day. This year it’s been in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth. It’s really fun and everyone learns a lot from it!

 

Mrs Vaughan, the head of my schools junior school took us there. It was such an honour and I think everyone knew we would be doing some really fun things and also learning more things! We took the train there and then got in our seats! When we got into the big auditorium there was some really good music playing so my friends and I sang a lot to that When it started the first speaker was Mike Martin. He spoke about his place as a leader and spoke about the different types of leadership such as: entrepreneurs, politicians, scholars and artists. This was all very interesting and we had a little booklet we each got given to take some notes on the speeches.

The second speaker was an AFL player and his name was Tom Harly. He talked about loving your passion and to positive self-talk yourself so you feel good. He also said to have a good attitude in everything you do and to also love everything you do. He was very inspiring because he said that he wasn’t the best AFL player but he still stuck to it and ended up being the captain of his team. He has retired now but still has his passion for AFL. When he was telling us about the leadership things he talked about, he was so passionate about AFL that he was holding an AFL ball in his hand as he spoke! This is him:

The third speakers name was Ronni Kahn and she runs a charity call OzHarvest that takes wasted food, makes it fresh and gives it to hungry people all around Australia. She taught us to start by making a small difference and then let it grow and that’s what happened with her charity. It wasn’t that big, they only had one van and one office. Now they have 15 vans and loads of offices all around Australia. She was a very nice lady.

The fourth speaker was very funny but had an incredible inspiring story. His name was Anh Do. Anh Do is a comedian so he made his story very funny He used to live in Vietnam but when the war started his family decided to move to Australia.  As they were leaving by boat soldiers were shooting at them from the beach and one of their engines broke so they were only going 30% of the way they should have been going. Also on their way to Australia they ran into some pirates and they threatened to throw a baby over board if they didn’t give them everything. The pirate also grabbed the baby and hung him over the boat. They ended up keeping the baby alive but took everything that Anh and his family had. One of the pirates felt sorry for them so gave them a big bottle of water that ended up saving their lives. The baby the pirates threatened to kill was actually Anh’s little brother who got the Young Australian of the year award in 2005. Heres a picture of him on the day he got the Young Australian of the Year award!

 

 

Moving to Australia was very hard for Anh and his family because they didn’t know any English and so when the foxtel guys used to come to their house in Australia, Anh’s Mum would speak with them from hours to practice her English! Anh then went to University and became a comedian and also made a book called ‘The Happiest Refuge’ that’s becoming a movie. He also wrote a picture book called ‘The Little Refuge’ that is a very inspiring story about him growing up. Anh Do’s story was so inspiring and funny. He taught us to dream big and if we miss our dreams that we should get up and keep on going. He also said that life was a blessing and how cool life is! Heres him and his books:

 

The last speaker for the day was a scientist and a surfer. His name was Ruben Meerman. He spoke about how if you do something good, some people just might follow you. He showed us a video of some animated birds and fish all following each other around in the air. He said there was a leader at the front and they lead the way all around. He also showed us a video of a guy pretending to be sick but no-one came and helped him. A lady walked past and saw him. At first she didn’t think of going and just stopped but then a guy went and helped him so she decided to go. That proves that when someone does something people follow! How cool is that!

Young Leadership Day was so fantastic and it was amazing how Mrs Vaughan (Junior School Principal) could come too! Thanks so much!