A STUDENT from Mt St Michael’s College, Ashgrove, will be taking the concerns of youth to a United Nations platform in Europe in January.
Laura Gartry, 17, is the only Queenslander among 18 Australian youth ambassadors chosen to attend The Hague International Model United Nations.
Laura was selected from 130 young people attending the national United Nations Youth Conference held in Hobart earlier this month.
Ambassadors were chosen for their public speaking, negotiating and debating skills, foreign affairs knowledge, integrity and diplomacy.
Laura is a social justice prefect and keen debater who hopes to pursue studies in politics or journalism.
“This is an opportunity that I know will change the rest of the my life,” she said.
“I am so excited (about) the influential people I know will I meet and incredible places I will visit.
“I want to make difference in the world and this opportunity provides me with the hope that change is more than just possible.”
Laura said her involvement at the national United Nations conference had reaffirmed the hope that the future of Australia was in more than capable hands and to never doubt the capabilities of Generation Y.
She said she had learned it was most important to speak up for what you believed in even if that was different.
The Australian student ambassadors will spend 22 days travelling through Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria and the Netherlands, meeting ambassadors and diplomats, visiting embassies and places affiliated with the United Nations.
Their trip culminates with the five-day model United Nations at The Hague, to be attended by more than 4000 young people from 90 countries.
Resolutions passed at the model UN meeting will be presented to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Laura has launched a fundraising campaign to help her and other members of the Australian delegation make the trip.
As part of that campaign, she is searching for sponsorship.
Meanwhile, Mt St Michael’s principal Alison Terrey was one of only 40 school heads nationally, and one of two from Catholic Education in Queensland, invited to participate in an innovative and distinctive national leadership program.
Ms Terrey took time off from her role at the Ashgrove girls’ secondary school recently to attend the “Leading Australia’s Schools” course, conducted by Teaching Australia in conjunction with the University of Melbourne and The Hay Group, in Melbourne.
The program seeks to develop and extend school leaders and inform their educational practice.
Ms Terrey will return to Melbourne for a follow-up workshop, assessing her learnings in practice, in October.
