Byron Bay, Ocean Shores, Ballina, Goonengerry, Alstonville and Mullumbimby student school leaders share their aspirations
As another school year rolls on, school leaders from across the Ballina and Byron shires are motivating and acting as role models for fellow students. Meet the inspiring group.
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School leaders from all over the Ballina and Byron Shire have been striving to support and inspire their fellow peers this year.
From wearing a lobster outfit at the athletics carnival to aspiring to become an author, these young stars have shared their goals for this year and their aspirations for the future.
Meet the young and upcoming leaders of 2023 from the Ballina and Byron Shire areas.
Byron Bay Public School
Benji W – school captain
“I earned the position of school captain through a vote. The vote was based on a speech I created and read to years 3 to 6.”
“Before this, I had to fill out an application to send to all the teachers and they decided on the boys and girls who get to make a speech and get voted for.
“I decided to pursue this role because I thought it would be a great learning experience.
“My passions at school are art, maths, sport, basketball, rugby, touch football and drawing.”
Winter C – school captain
“Being a school captain means I get to help run every Monday assembly, which is so much fun. I also help with playgroup, as well as, putting the flag up or down every morning and afternoon.”
“To become school captain we had to put in an application saying why we wanted to be in the position and how we were going to help the school. The teachers then read our applications and choose the best eight out of four girls and four boys.
“We had to make a speech and present it to the school. After everyone voted and the captains and vice captains were announced on Awards Day.
“I have always wanted to be a leader since kindergarten and after seeing the older year 6 captains up on stage at assemblies.
“At school, I love dancing. This year I got into this dance ensemble, which was really fun.
“I also enjoy maths, writing, art and sports. My favourite sports are netball and basketball.”
Dylan J – school vice-captain
“As a school vice-captain, my duties include running assemblies every Monday, putting up the flags in the morning and attending monthly Student Representative Council (SRC) meetings.”
“To be elected for the role I had to fill out an application form then a panel had to elect people to make a speech. I was chosen along with two other boys and five girls to make the speech. Finally, I found out I got vice-captain on Presentation Day.
“I decided to pursue this position because I am respectful, responsible and fair, which are our school values. Also, my Year 5 teacher said I should, then she helped me become the person I am today.
“My passions are sports, technology, science, geography and health.
“My goals for this year are to get better at public speaking, long division and improve my handwriting.”
Greta G – school vice-captain
“As part of this job, I run school assemblies every Monday with my fellow captains. I also help with playgroup, attend SRC meetings, put up the flags in the morning and take them down after school and help with other jobs when needed.”
“To earn this position, I filled out a form for teachers and wrote a speech. I read it to the school and then they voted.
“When they counted the votes and knew who the new captains would be, the current captains announced it on Presentation Day.
“When I was young, the captains were people I admired. So I put my hand up for it to help improve my public speaking skills for high school.
“My passions at school are art and STEM because I love being creative and working with technology.
“I also like writing because I can make up my own world.
“My goals for this year are to improve my public speaking and to try to write a book. I hope I achieve them.”
Byron Community Public School
Harper Warren – school leader
“I am 11 years old and I’m in year 5. At school, I’m in the Sustainability Action Group with Saskia, and Florence. Although, it’s a small group we can make a huge difference.”
“I chose this club because I want the world to stay alive and for younger people to experience things I experienced. I also love gardening and being surrounded by nature.
“To get this position we had to present a speech about why we wanted to be in a specific action group. Afterwards, the teachers decided who would be the right person for the job.
“My favourite things to do at school are gardening club, art, science and sport. My goals are to get better at handwriting and maths.”
Maia Sullivan – school leader
“I am in grade 5 and I am part of the Community Action Group. I am very happy with the role that I play in interacting with and helping our school and community.”
“So far we have had a fundraiser at our school, raising money for cancer research by selling cupcakes, and we raised $156.95.
“We have also walked the preps and kinder garden kids down to the library to listen to songs.
“To be chosen for the Community Action Group or the other two groups (Sustainability Action Group or the Playground Action Group) you had to say a speech to the class. “Everyone got into the group they wanted to be in because the teachers could see how serious we were about the position.
“I wanted this position because I love my school and my friends and I want to make a noticeable change that benefits everyone.
“My biggest passion in school is art, music and English and my goal is to get better at them.”
Molly McKay – school leader
“I’m 11 years old and in grade 5. At school, I’m in the Community Action Group (CAG). Being in the CAG means I focus on the community aspect of the school.”
“To get into this role we had to present speeches so our teacher could choose who would be best for the job.
“The reason I chose this position is because I love being in the community.
“I enjoy going to the markets and constantly running into friends, going to the beach and diving through the waves or going to the library to read.
“My passions at school are writing, sports, music and drama.
“My goal this year is to make it to Zone in every sport. Zone is the second level of sports.”
Rogue River Johnston Emmons – school leader
“My position is a year 6 Student Representative Council representative (SRC). There are four year 6 SRC representatives in total.”
“Our school doesn’t have school captains so we represent the students and thank people that come to our school for presentations, among other things.
“The process of getting this role starts with writing a speech and then presenting it to the school. The students vote for who they want to represent them. The teachers vote and then it’s decided which lucky four people will get the position.
“I pursued this position mainly for a new experience because I’ve never been on the SRC before, and to have fun.”
Florence Paul – school leader
“I am 11 years old and I’m in grade 5 at Byron Community Primary School.”
I am a Sustainability Action Group (SAG) member, along with Saskia and Harper. Together we run the Garden Club, where we grow plants and look after them in the school garden.
“I chose this position because I believe I can help the world be a better place for humans and animals.
“My passions at school are art, creative writing and sport.
“To be elected to the SAG we had to present a speech and our teacher chose who would be best for the role.”
Ocean Shores Public School
Ava Davidson – school captain
“My leadership position involves running assemblies and assisting the principal, teachers and students by doing jobs.”
“I earned this position by writing a long speech about how I would be a good school captain and I was voted in.
“I wanted to be a school captain to help out the school and be a good role model for others.
“My passions at school are playing sports and doing art.
“My goals for this year are to succeed academically and to make memories in my last year of primary school.”
Rocco Davidson – school captain
“Being a school captain involves talking at assemblies and helping with organising fundraisers.”
“I earned this position by doing a speech and then was voted in by the school to be their leader.
“I thought I had a good chance of becoming school captain because I have the right skills for the position.
“My passions are sports and my goal for this year is to make it to the Nationals in running.”
Sophie Hurrell – school vice-captain
“As a school vice-captain, I speak at assemblies and put the flags up each morning.”
“To get this position I wrote a letter to our principal saying why I wanted to be a school captain. Then I was selected to give a speech. I did my speech at the next assembly and was told I was a school vice-captain.
“I always wanted to be a school leader and help other students. My goal is to improve my schoolwork.”
Stark Easterbrook-Lenehan – school vice-captain
“Being a school vice-captain involves talking in front of the school and being a role model, as well as raising the flags on the flag poles.”
“I was elected for this position after I wrote a speech in front of the school.
“I am passionate about being a role model and my goal is to become a better person in general.”
Ballina Coast High School
November Webb – school captain
“I like the warm and welcoming staff and students, as well as the environment I learn in at school.”
“This year I hope to make an impact on the school and achieve the grades I need.
“My biggest challenges would be second-guessing myself and my height.
“My dream beyond school is to go to university to become a high school teacher.”
Nathanael Kelly – school captain
“I like the faculty here. The school helps with any problems I may encounter during my schooling career.”
“This year I wish to expand on my academic success within my senior studies.
“My biggest challenge is to achieve and sustain a balance in my academic and home life.
“My dream beyond high school is to have the intellectual prowess to achieve freedom financially and physically.”
Bonnie Tinworth – school captain
“I like the support from teachers, the inclusivity and the friendliness of the staff at school.
“This year I hope to achieve the best I possibly can in my ATAR and excel academically. I also hope to be able to help other students with schoolwork and promote a more positive school playground.
“My biggest challenge is time management and prioritising my study time.
“My dream beyond high school is to get into a Bachelor of Science degree at university and venture into teaching, or possibly dentistry.
Sophie-Lee Sariago – school captain
“The school has provided me with countless opportunities to better myself academically and as a person, helping me put my best foot forward for the future.
“This year I hope to graduate with no regrets. I hope to achieve putting lots of effort into my assessments and exams and leaving a hardworking legacy at school.
“My biggest challenge is a fear of failure. I have been told the final year counts and failing is something I wish to avoid, but (I hope) to also become more accepting of it if the time comes.
“Beyond high school, my dream is to attend university to complete a Bachelor of Science majoring in marine sciences, and maybe minoring in environmental resource economics, in the hope of becoming a marine biologist and activist for the future of our oceans.”
Goonengerry Public School
Tait Druitt – school leader
“The best thing about being a leader is that you get to help little kids and they look up to you.”
“My extra responsibilities are to take care of the sports equipment, putting up and taking down the flags, greeting and thanking visitors and doing the Acknowledgment of Country.
“It is important to be a good role model because when they (those I help) grow up to be a role model, they will be a good influence on younger children.
“I’m very passionate about playing soccer, doing maths, science and technology, music, reading, and hanging outside.
“My goals this year are to heal my injured knee and to get better at maths and guitar.”
Sofia Peacock – school leader
“The best thing about being a school leader is being a role model to the younger kids and helping them. Being someone the little kids look up to.”
“Also, the teachers trust me more and let me take on bigger responsibilities.
“I raise the flags every morning and take them down every afternoon. I greet and thank visitors that come to our school and do the acknowledgement of country. I feed the chickens every day with one of my friends, Feather. I am also a school captain for one of three sports teams.
“We need to be good role models for our younger peers because what we do will influence the way they act.
“My outdoor passions are looking after animals, playing soccer and riding horses.
“My classroom passions are literacy, writing and playing guitar.
“One of my goals for this year is to get better at guitar.”
Mullumbimby High School
Luke O’Brien – school captain
“This position involves listening to and relaying student requests or concerns to teachers, enabling me to provide a louder voice to the student body.”
“I was nominated for this role by many teachers throughout the school. Then, along with my fellow candidates, I performed a speech and was consequently elected through the collective votes of my cohort.
“On top of my teacher’s recommendations, I wanted to become school captain to provide a voice to an often under-represented group in the education system – the students. I have been passionate about this for many years, extending into primary school, where I was also school captain in 2017.
“I suppose that the rights of my equals are a passion that I hold deeply and I hope that this passion may reflect in my actions and leave an efficacious impact on my school.
“My goals are to end the school year having made a worthwhile, genuine impact, either through alterations within the school, or through a positive, lasting impression.”
May Morgan – school captain
“In this position, alongside the other captains, I take on suggestions from the student body and bring these suggestions to Student Representative Committee (SRC) meetings, as well as meetings with the principal.
“We also represent Mullumbimby High at out of school events, such as Anzac services.
“To earn this position, all students wishing to become a captain did a speech at the end of year 11 in front of the grade that discussed our ambitions for captaincy. After these speeches, all students in our grade, as well as all staff, anonymously voted for who they wanted to become the 2023 captains.
“I decided to pursue this position because I believe that having strong leadership among the school environment is essential for everyone to have a voice.
“I am passionate about helping others, and I knew that being in this role would allow me to do so.
“I do a wide range of subjects at school, which I find to be very engaging as it allows me to study my differing interests ranging from music to history.
“I also enjoy being a part of the SRC as it allows me to communicate and work with a diverse range of students who all have their own ideas of how they would like our school to be.”
Xavier Catholic College Ballina
Millie Jackson – school captain
“Being a captain for me, doesn’t just consist of wearing a badge and being in charge. I like to utilise my position to be a role model leader to all students and use my role as a means to communicate with the community about their ideas, passions or concerns.”
“Alongside my fellow captains – Grace, Isaiah and Oliver – we work together to take charge of our school assemblies in an attempt to make them student-driven. We have worked to create this through the inclusive manner of our speeches, the proposal of new ideas and the participation of student talent.
“Aside from this my position also includes representing the college in any means available for example, leadership conferences, Anzac Day, Remembrance Day and charity events.
“To gain my position I had to submit an application with my passions, schooling contributions, leadership-worthy traits and why I would make an effective leader in our community. After passing this stage, the applicants were narrowed down.
“Then I had to present a speech to the College community about why I would be a great college captain and my visions for the school.
“From here, the entity of the school cohort including faculty had the opportunity to vote and rank their choices of college captain candidates.
“I love to be able to help others. I find it such a rewarding thing to be able to do. I believe a good leader doesn’t just talk and present all the time but also takes the time to listen, which myself and the captains have aimed to achieve through our implementation of the Student Voice Council.
“Apart from this, I believe that every student should make the most of their high school years, so as a captain I am passionate about nourishing our school spirit/participation and how this can be further developed through fundraising activities, initiating clubs and assemblies.
“I am passionate about academics, but I believe that there is so much more to school than study.
“If you were to be a part of such a large, diverse and supportive community, why not try and make the most out of it by enjoying it to its full potential?”
Alstonville High School
Lucy Trease – school captain
“Being school captain involves running formal events, school assemblies, representing the school at Anzac Day marches and special events. Another part is being a friendly face in the playground and an active part of our school and community.
“To be elected as school captain each candidate ran a campaign and recorded a speech that was played to all students and then captains were voted on.
“I think being an open, friendly face around school and being an active voice in our school and community meant I was well known by my peers and trusted with being the voice for students.
“Since year 7, I have held a position in SRC and I have previously held roles as SRC secretary, vice-president and president.
“I always volunteer to help at events, which means I have interactions across all years.
“I was lucky enough, along with three of my other peers to be successful in the election.
“I decided to pursue this position because I love helping my friends and community, leading and public speaking.
“I have been an active part of both my school and community, so I loved the idea of being able to continue to be an ongoing voice.
“I am in Year 12 this year so am hoping to achieve high results in all my subjects and overall in my HSC.
“I love participating in school carnivals, debating, future leaders projects and interacting with my peers.”
Coen Acret – school captain
“Being school captain involves representing the school externally, leading assemblies and being a voice for the student body as a whole.
“I have been a part of student leadership since year 7 and in year 11 I decided to join the race for school captain.
“There was an election and the process involved putting up posters to get my face and ideas out there. It also included submitting a video of a speech that I gave outlining who I am and what I will do for students.
“I had previously contributed all that I felt I could through SRC, progressing from member to treasurer in years 8-10 and finally president in year 11.
“I’ve always been passionate about students having some sort of say in what kind of environment they go to school in. Becoming a school captain was where I felt that I could continue this journey in year 12.
“I’m passionate about English and science. My goal this year is to complete high school.”
Molly Spencer – school captain
“As school captains, we run school assemblies and organise different activities.
“I feel like Ewan and myself are the two school captains that bring energy and school spirit to the role. We enjoy engaging with younger students. Lucy and Coen are better at organising the tasks, Ewan and I bring the fun.
“I applied for this position with a video of why I wanted to be school captain and what I would bring to the role. I was elected in by the students and staff at our school.
“I think I was elected for my social skills and ability to uphold promises made to students.
“I pursued this position because I watched my mother have a lot of leadership qualities and this was very inspiring to me. I thought I would give the captain role a try.
“I enjoyed being a member of the SRC first, then thought I would try being a school captain, which I love.
“My main passion are the creative subjects, I enjoy them and find myself excited to go to these classes. I enjoy the out of school hours and creative activities, like the CAPA night (school concert).
“I want to enjoy what I have left of school, take it all in and take my time and appreciate what I have been able to do.”
Ewan Chate – school captain
“As school captains we run school assemblies and organise different activities. I feel like Molly and I are the two school captains that bring energy and school spirit to the role. We enjoy engaging with younger students. Lucy and Coen are better at organising the tasks while Molly and I bring the fun.
“I applied for this position with a video of why I wanted to be school captain and what I would bring to the role. I was elected by the students and staff at our school.
“I made my video relatable and fun. The students like my energy. I talk to a lot of the junior students and am friends with them. I believe they see me as a trustworthy person.
“I have been in the SRC forever and was a school captain in primary school.
“I have always wanted to be school captain and enjoy the thought of being a role model for younger people, being that cool senior. I watched my older sister as our high school captain and it looked really fun.
“I enjoy the social aspect of school. Our school spirit is good, there is a really good vibe and I enjoy contributing to the good vibe and making other people get into it. I wore a lobster outfit at the athletics carnival.
“My goal is to do well in the HSC, but I want our year to finish memorably, I want people to remember us as the fun year 12.”
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