National Leadership College 2015

Last week I flew to Sydney for the National Leadership College for Surf Life Saving and it was one of the most amazing weeks of my life. Surf Life Savers from all around Australia were selected to attend.

Coming from Perth, a group of us flew in the day before and stayed one night in a hotel. That night we ate at a little art club and it was "Tight Arse Monday's" which suited me just fine.

We stayed in dorms at St Paul's College at the University of Sydney, which is basically Australia's Hogwarts. In my head I had set the bar pretty low for my room (from other camps I had been on) which exceeded my expectations. St Paul's is an all boys College which meant some of us were an exception. The rooms were a reasonable size, with a bed, couch, desk and closet; some people even had a fridge.

We learnt communication and leadership skills; and about personal brands, positive attitudes, motivation, relationships, resolving conflict, networking, vision and innovation.

We had the opportunity to hear from and speak to some amazing, powerful and inspirational people. My favourites would have been Trevor Hendy, Suzanne Young and Shandra Moran. It was incredible to hear the stories and wise words from these people.

It will take me a bit of time to process, but I now know an awful lot more to help me in Surf Life Saving and in other aspects of my life.

We also had many chances to step out of our comfort zones. We had a talent night, with a varying array of talent and a huge step into the unknown for some. We had a trivia night, which my team came from last place in the 5th round to win. This being the first time I have ever been in a winning quiz night team! There were also a few other things I'm sworn to secrecy about.

The final night we all got dressed up in our matching shirts for a dinner, speeches and entertainment. This was a really nice evening and gave us a chance to talk to everyone including some important people in Surf Life Saving.

After the dinner wound down we were all eager to go out for a drink before we all went back home the next morning.  

This experience is one that will stick with me, the connections I have made and the skills I have learnt are invaluable and I hope they will greatly improve the things I do in my surf club and in other parts of my life.

During this week I also found out I have been offered a scholarship through the Georgia Rotary Student Program to study at Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville. This will be from around July this year for one year. I was excited to accept the offer and am awaiting more information. It was an ideal place to find out about this as everyone was so happy and supportive.

I hope both experiences will provide me with long term friendships and I am excited to see where this all leads.