Future Leaders Review

These past few weeks have been extremely busy for the Fort’s SRC! Much of our team’s time had been devoted to planning and hosting the 2nd Annual Future Leaders Conference, held at Fort Street on Wednesday 29th of May. The day involved over 300 student leaders from 35 public schools from all over NSW, some making their way from Gosford, Mereweather, and Penrith – and providing them with an opportunity to meet other leaders, develop, and strengthen their leadership qualities. Our theme for the day was “Pathways to Success”, and throughout the day we showcased the various ways success can be achieved in all walks of life through our amazing speakers. 

The day began with the first of three sessions – the keynote speakers. We welcomed Dr Brindha Shivalingam, Head Neurosurgeon at the RPA, David Anderson, Managing Director of the ABC, and Fortian and former High Court Justice the Hon. Michael Kirby. 

After sharing their words of wisdom and answering some questions submitted by visiting students, and after a quick recess break, we kicked off Session 2 with our magnificent Panel Speakers: Melanie Evans, CEO of ING Bank; Murat Dizdar, Secretary for the DoE; Phillip Johnston, practitioner, jazz musician, film music composer and lecturer at Sydney Conservatorium and Mitch Gibbs, Geologist and Marine Biologist at USYD; and our wonderful panel host, Dr Sunil Badami, writer and academic. The panel shared their individual pathways not only to success, but to dealing with setbacks and leading their teams. 

The final session was run in small groups and led by our Year 11 and 10 SRC, and our wonderful House Captains. These workshops targeted the sharing of experiences between schools, brainstorming ideas to combat challenges in our range of school environments, and allowed us all to meet new people. 

The SRC Executive Body would like to in particular thank Ms Cameron, Ms Mattick, Mr O’Neill, and Mr Sherwin for their continued support, as well as the office staff, the P&C, Year 9 SRC catering team, House Captains, and Year 10 SRC. None of this would have been possible without funding, time, effort, and support made by all these wonderful people.