Council inspires future leaders

BASS Coast’s brightest young leaders met with council’s top representatives to discuss their future ambitions at the annual Young Leaders Workshop last Tuesday, February 6.
Twenty-four students, two representatives from Grade 6 and two from Year 12, were elected from schools across Bass Coast as delegates at the Wonthaggi workshop in collaboration with YLab.
“At the workshop, students partook in a number of activities focused storytelling and the role it plays in leadership,” YLab facilitator Chelsea Lang said.
YLab is the social enterprise arm of Foundation for Young Australians, which seeks to provide skills and resources to prospective young leaders who show leadership aptitude both in the school and local community.
“Members of the Bass Coast Shire Council attended the workshop to partake in a ‘quick minute session’ where students had one minute to come up with a bunch of questions which had to be answered as quickly as possible,” Ms Lang said.
Bass Coast Shire Council mayor Cr Pamela Rothfield, deputy mayor Cr Brett Tessari and chief executive officer Paul Buckley responded to students’ questions.
Cr Rothfield drew from her past career experiences to share her advice when asked about her journey to local governance.
“When I was sent overseas to work in the film industry, my boss told me I was going to make mistakes but, in order to avoid big ones, I should listen to both the left and right sides of my brain,” she said.
“I have doubted myself countless times. But be sure to follow what the right side of your brain says sometimes and follow it with confidence.”
Cr Tessari expressed to the young leaders about how important it is to share their opinions in order to enact change.
“My dad always said that ‘if you are not going to be quiet, then put yourself out there’,” he shared.
“You do not need an official title to be a leader. It is about how you present yourself to others that makes you a leader.”
Mr Buckley agreed and said attitude is the key to his success after having failed Year 12.
“I realised that it takes a lot of good attitude to move forward in life,” he said.
“When you wake up in the morning, the only thing you have control over is your attitude.”
The young leaders will work on community leadership projects within their respective schools and will be presented with their award at the Young Leaders Awards at Inverloch RACV later in the month.

Bright minds: from left, Micah, Kearney, Bass Coast Shire Council mayor Cr Pamela Rothfield, Harry, deputy mayor Cr Brett Tessari, Zac, Alice and Bass Coast Shire Council chief executive officer Paul Buckley at the Bass Coast Young Leaders workshop last Tuesday, February 6.

Short URL: /?p=24077

Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Feb 13 2018. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry