This year at Haileybury Rendall School in Darwin, there are six First Nation girls enrolled in Year 12 – more than any other year at the school.
Significantly, most of them will be completing the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). At the end of 2021, they will be the first Aboriginal girls to complete the VCE from a school in the Northern Territory.
Each of these exceptional young women expects to go on to University or further studies, and we have no doubt that they will be future leaders.
To inspire and support them on their Year 12 journey, each term Stars Foundation will be taking the young women to dinner with Aboriginal women who are leaders in their field.
For the first dinner our Stars were fortunate enough to be joined by Larrakia Elder, Aunty Bilawarra Lee, and Professor Yvette Roe, a Njikena Jawuru woman and Professor of Indigenous Health at Charles Darwin University.
It was a relaxed evening of story sharing, connecting, and inspiring each other, with an emphasis on the importance of believing in yourself, supporting one another, giving back, and overcoming challenges with hard work.
The messages that most stuck with our Stars included:
“Being proud of who you are and your background, regardless of the colour of your skin. It inspired me to know myself more,” Shania
“How important it is for women to empower other women, and that we stand on the shoulders of those that came before us. This really resonated with me,” Shenea
“You don’t need people to tell you who you are, because in your heart you know who you are,” Iman
“Always be your own number one supporter,” Faith