Y-Lead is an Australian youth leadership organisation, with a mission to support Australian schools in developing a generation of confident, motivated, and skilled young leaders who are capable and willing to make a positive impact in our changing world. Over 80 year 12 student leaders from schools throughout Victoria and even Tasmania, participated in a 3-day program run by Y-Lead at Melbourne University. It created an outlet for each individual to express their ideas and build off of one another to strengthen their leadership capabilities and skills. Whilst there, they taught us to not be afraid to be open and vulnerable as leaders, improve our public speaking ability, and conflict resolution to apply to our leadership positions back at our schools as well as out in the world. Allowing us to work in different environments, they made sure to accommodate activities to suit everyone’s preferences for learning as much as possible. Whether that be in groups, by ourselves, writing notes or getting up and moving around.

Will:

I found this opportunity extremely beneficial, in not only helping me be a leader but also allowing me to leave my comfort zone. I also met so many other amazing students and mentors that I can now see myself collaborating with in the future to hopefully continue growing our schools and communities. I want to thank everyone from Y-Lead for providing this once-in-a-lifetime experience, making it so enjoyable and worthwhile, and also Geelong High School because without them I would never have gone on this program. Hopefully, many other future leaders like myself, can be given this same opportunity and make the world a better place.

Harry:

The Y-Lead conference provided students with a beneficial experience for developing leadership qualities and meeting new people.

Mariele:

Surrounding myself with a whole new group of people was the scariest thing to think about. I thought I wouldn’t be able to connect with others, and just be super awkward. But everyone there was so welcoming and open-minded to everyone’s differences. It was refreshing to interact with like-minded people who have surprisingly many things in common. By pushing myself out of my comfort zone, I was able to develop multiple connections with people and those memories will stick with me forever. I would 100% recommend this conference to future leaders, it’ll be a great opportunity for them to find themselves as individuals. Of course, this experience isn’t for everybody, but the lessons you learn from it are something you could apply to life in and outside of school.

2023 School Captain Team