Cohen Saunders

Youth Leadership Award in the Community

Cohen is an inspiring young leader who has made a significant contribution through many volunteering roles in the community and at school. One of Cohen’s roles is with local farmers, Gung Hoe Growers. Cohen has consistently volunteered at the farm once a week for the past 18 months. He gets up in the dark, rides his bike 45 minutes in the rain, hail, heat or frost to volunteer in the early hours before school. Due to his passion for sustainable farming, Cohen has led small groups of his peers to visit the farm and also volunteer. He has also taken on leadership roles within the school, on the Student Representative Council (SRC) and School Council. He has also successfully sought funding and coordinated projects to improve the school grounds.

Josh Rodgers

Youth Leadership Award in the Workplace

Josh is a teenage entrepreneur from Newstead who has shown outstanding personal achievement in the business sector. He has used the skills he learned as a barista and trainee coffee roaster to start his own coffee roasting business. He uses a 100% solar powered coffee roasterie that he built himself on his family’s property. He is committed to innovative business techniques and to supporting small farmers.

Ada Levis

Youth Leadership Award in Music and the Arts

Ada is a talented musician and young leader in the local music community. She is passionate about music and radio and volunteers a lot of her time to support the industry and to increase her skills. She has two weekly radio shows, which she presents before school. She is the bass player in the all-female band, Stop That Mammoth. Ada also volunteers on a number of committees including the Social Media and Programming Committee at MaineFM, the FReeZa Committee at Council, and the SRC at her school. On her weekends she is studying a qualification in radio broadcasting.

Oscar Johnson

Youth Leadership Award in Education

Oscar has shown significant leadership in helping to develop skills in others. He successfully applied for funding to lead an anti-vandalism project at his school. This involved teaching other students how to use spray paint to create artwork and murals. He also worked with Groovin the Moo Musical Festival to lead an art project with his class, sharing his skills with other students to create cushions for the festival. Despite having left school at the end of last year, Oscar has come back this year to work with students on a mural design, incorporating elements of measurement and scale as part of maths classes.