YLEAD ALTITUDE DAY

Altitude Day is an annual one-day event created to empower Year 9 students. Through a blend of inspirational talks and energising group activities, students learnt how to become active and inspiring leaders of their school and community. Students gained advice on how to make good choices, build their confidence and make a difference from 3 inspiring guest speakers, all whilst forming a strong network of peers from schools across Perth. Altitude Day provided an environment where boys couldstep outside the classroom to truly understand what it means to be a leader. On the day boys:

• Identified ways to have a positive impact at Aquinas (with or without a badge),
• were challenged to step outside their comfort zone in a safe and supportive environment,
• identified their current leadership capacities and future opportunities,• reflected on the kind of leader they would like to become in the future.

This is what some of the boys had to say about attending the YLead Altitude Day:

The year 9 Altitude Day was an awesome experience to step out of your comfort zone, but also learn how to become a better leader and person. Throughout the day, we were encouraged to find and talk to people from different schools which was certainly a challenge at first. It was quite daunting at the start; however, we did ice breaking activities such as dancing, asking each other questions and doing activities together. Personally, I made a lot of new friends which helped make the day more fun.

When the different guest speakers came on, it was really inspiring to see what their stories were like growing up, and how they pushed through the difficulties to become successful. Most of them had struggled during their time in school but excelled once they graduated and were determined to become better. Overall, the year 9 Altitude Day was really fun, and I would highly recommend it.
Brendan Sceresini

As a Year 9 Middle School leader, going to the YLead leadership day has not only benefited me in becoming a better leader, but my life as a whole. At the presentation, we learnt about goal setting, and to do what you love and follow your dreams. They talked about the idea of "if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life". This really resonated with me, and during one of the guest speaker's speeches, she talked about this idea.

She said since she followed her dreams and did what she loves, she wakes up every day excited to see what the day brings. I think this is a great way to live, because you are not only working, but you are also having fun and doing what you love. When they talked about goalsetting, it reinforced what we learn at Aquinas. It is it is important to set goals, otherwise you won't go anywhere, you need to work out the path, to succeed. Overall, I think the day was great to attend, because I learnt lessons that not only developed my leadership, but also my everyday life.
Mack Seton

I have just got back from the YLead Altitude Da,y a conference for Year 9 student leaders. As the name might suggest it allowed Year 9 students to reach new heights and discover their potential. It was an amazing experience that allowed me to leave my comfort zone and meet new people that had common interests as me. We had 3 guest speakers who each presented their own unique views on high school and later in life.

They were each people that had big goals and dreams. But they didn't achieve them easily and they had to tackle many setbacks. From this we learnt that failure is normal and something that is important and inevitable when trying to reach your goals. We were given opportunities to write down our own goals and endeavours for the future. I liked what the first speaker talked about, she said we need to be like otters and build each other up instead of breaking people down since this doesn't make you any better.
Andrew Crawford

Attending the YLead altitude day conference for year 9's was an absolute privilege. The skills that l learnt would allow me to make a difference in the Middle School. The stories told allowed me to visualise what the speakers went through and how they gained awards and public recognition. The sets backs, frustrations, negative thoughts and even a full ride to Harvard university is what we heard and learnt about.

Jack Anderson was my biggest inspiration because he tried so many things and used time management to his advantage. Jack trained every single day for 3 years to be a ninja warrior, he got to the World Championships and then unfortunately fell off the second platform. He didn't give up and Ch9 TV said that he would be joining the Australian Ninja Warrior show but a few weeks later they axed the show. Jack struggled to read textbooks in Year 12 and thought that he wanted to make a change, so Jack spent 13 months writing his first Year 12 chemistry textbook that was student friendly.

His persistence paid off as his leadership values, skills and resilience helped in him gaining a full ride scholarship to Harvard University. Jack’s leadership inspired me to be the best l can be, as well as taking all the amazing information that l learnt today and putting it into the Middle school as a leader.
Lucas Dillon

On the 20 of May me and around 40 other classmates attended the YLead Altitude Day Leadership conference for Year 9s. The day was exciting as it had many activities that had you get up and out of your comfort zone, like greeting people from different schools and having a conversation with them. My favourite part of the day was probably listening to all the guest speakers and finding out how they got to where they're at and how to be a good leader.

The thing I have taken away is that if I want to achieve big goals, I must set routines, work hard and to never give up because even if you fail in something, there will always be something else that you might not know about yet. Another thing I learnt today is that you always have a potential for something, but you must put in the work to succeed. I would definitely go back to an Altitude Day because it exceeded so much of my expectations and was fun.
Judd Opalinski

The 'success is an iceberg' analogy has been prevalent for many years. This graphic was made to inform people that success is not a simple, linear task, but rather, success requires a person to face challenges and obstacles. This analogy had never been significant to me, but at the Year 9 'YLeadAltitude Day' multiple talented individuals gave students insight into leadership. Through these real-world examples, the meaning of the iceberg analogy become something that was both realistic and clear.

The conference was all about being a leader, and the qualities and responsibilities that come with a leadership role. This event engaged students in topics such as adversity, grit, resilience, character, friendship and more. Through the work of the YLead hosts and three guest speakers, we were given the opportunity to learn, engage and interact with topics covering leadership.

The program was also extremely enjoyable and memorable, with chances for students to socialise, answerquestions and get out of our comfort zones. The 'YLead altitude day' was not only informative, but an extremely engaging day where students could truly be themselves.
Lucas Ho