Lions Youth of the Year is designed to encourage, foster and develop leadership in conjunction with other citizenship qualities in young people. The qualities sought, apart from academic attainments, are those of leadership, personality, sportsmanship, public speaking and good citizenship.  Youth of the Year is designed to encourage student interest in leadership and the qualities required to take an active and constructive role in the community. A high level of academic, leadership, sporting, public speaking and citizenship achievement is sought in its potential winners. By emphasising these qualities it hopes to provide outstanding role models for the youth of Australia and an overall increase in the confidence of young men and women.

This year, Kara Binka (Year 12) and Ashlee Allegretto (Year 10) competed in this process, which included their involvement at school and the broader community, academic achievement, general knowledge, presentation and public speaking in the form of impromptu questions and a prepared speech.  Both girls represented the school admirably and they should be extremely proud of their achievements.  On the night of the public speaking section, Ashlee was awarded the Best Prepared Speech for sharing some of her life experiences to this point and how she has overcome obstacles with support of her family and internal strength, while Kara shared her six tips on making the most of your opportunites in life.

Congratulations to both girls and we encourage other students to become involved next year.