By JO HARRISON
THREE young indigenous leaders have left their mark on the 2013 school year achieving success and respect from their peers as Year 12 school captains and prefects.
School Captains Angus Gallagher from Armidale High School and Tyrone Clough from Guyra Central School along with Prefect Matt Carey from Duval High School all understand the significance of their role as leaders of their schools and are confident that there will be other Aboriginal youth to follow in their footsteps.
“Being school captain at Armidale High School has forced me to do things that I wouldn’t have normally done,” Angus said.
“It forced me to be outgoing in situations where I didn’t necessarily need to be.”
For Angus, his leadership skills were developed through his involvement in the Clontarf Foundation program run at his school that aims to improve the education and self-esteem of young Aboriginal men.
“Just being able to sit around and talk to the guys at lunch was really rewarding,” he said.
“The guys that run the program do an excellent job of just making sure these guys get to school and stay at school, making sure school is a positive experience.”
Born and bred in Guyra, Tyrone Clough has found his year as school captain really fun and enjoys the challenges of leadership.
“I have done lots of great stuff as school captain and this year we worked hard in particular to run the Central Schools Carnival that hadn’t run for a number of years,” Tyrone said.
“Being Aboriginal and school captain I hope shows Aboriginal kids at school that it doesn’t matter what heritage you are from you can do what you want to do and make a difference.”
NAIDOC Week celebrations at Duval High School were the highlight for prefect Matt Carey who has also enjoyed his final year at Duval. The leadership team involved themselves in numerous community activities and fund-raising.
“We held a NAIDOC march a few months back where I did a lot of public speaking at,” Matt said.
“Steve Widders was the one that got me involved in the march and he congratulated me for my involvement which was an amazing experience.”
As a member of the School Council, Matt was able to have a lot of say in what happened throughout the school year.
“We decided early in the year that we wanted to support the Westpac Rescue Helicopter and the Jimmy Little Foundation,” Matt said.
“We also wanted to give back to the school so we painted the school common room, raised $1500 to upgrade the school sick bay and numerous fund-raisers and barbecues.”
They are working hard studying for their Higher School Certificate with exams commencing in the next couple of weeks. The trio all intend to have a gap year in 2014 before deciding on their futures. They are extremely proud of their Aboriginal heritage and hope that in their own small way they have made a difference.
“I think it is important for everyone that if Aboriginal people are in these leadership roles then it is just another way of showing what we can do; this is what Aboriginal people want to do and there should be no distinction whatsoever,” Angus said.
