Young leaders from Hawkesbury and The Hills were left inspired meeting highly respected and influential businessman and Indigenous advocate, Nyunggai Warren Mundine AO, as part of the first 2017 Hawkesbury-Hills Student Leadership Programme mentoring dinner on Thursday night.
Mr Mundine met with the Year 12 students at The Australian Brewery in Rouse Hill where he shared valuable lessons and stories from his life and career. Member for Hawkesbury Dominic Perrottet, who coordinates the Programme, said it was fantastic to have role models like Mr Mundine taking the time to speak to and mentor student leaders.
“Successful leaders in our community can do so much to inspire our young people, and I know that meeting Warren and hearing what he had to say will make a lasting impression on the students,” Mr Perrottet said.
Student Rikki Anderson from Richmond High School said Mr Mundine’s talk was inspirational and reflected on ways to build leadership.
“A long-time advocate for the indigenous community, Mr Mundine was especially passionate about his role in initiatives that affected Aboriginal wellbeing,” Miss Anderson said.
“This reflected his values on giving to others and working towards goals.”
Gilroy Catholic College student Sienna Archer said the night was a fantastic opportunity to be able to hear from and ask Mr Mundine questions.
“He had an incredibly insightful message into what it means to be a leader,” Miss Archer said.
“It’s amazing how someone who is so busy and has achieved so much can be so humble and I’m grateful he took the time to come speak to us.”
Mr Perrottet committed to running the Hawkesbury-Hills Student Leadership Programme in 2017 following the success of last year’s Programme.
The program provides opportunities for high school students to develop strong leadership skills through a series of mentoring events with Australian leaders, culminating in a week-long service project as an alternative to ‘Schoolies Week’.
This year, students in the program will travel to Uluru-Ayers Rock to do service work and learn alongside students and staff at Nyangatjatjara College.
The next mentoring event in the program will feature Suncorp CEO and former managing director of Microsoft, Pip Marlow.
