We also had the chance to listen to some famous speakers, including Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Hopkins, Paula Abdul and Jonathan Bennett.
Last month, we were privileged to have the opportunity to fly from Melbourne to Los Angeles for LEAP Week 2018. LEAP Week is a week-long leadership and life skills programme held every year at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). This programme, which we were able to participate in under a generous half scholarship, aims to teach high school and college students how to become successful and prepared for life beyond school.
Over the course of the week, we attended multiple interesting presentations on personalities, goal setting, core values, time management, networking, informational interviewing, public speaking and many more. We also had the chance to listen to some famous speakers, including Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Hopkins, Paula Abdul and Jonathan Bennett. They were all amazing and never stopped striving for success, even after setbacks in their careers. We also heard from a multitude of inspiring and educational speakers who shared their own stories and taught us how to improve and tell our own. These included entrepreneurs and CEOs from graphic design, dentistry, music production, art, entertainment, clothing and ghost-writing industries and even a sleep doctor, who all came to talk to us about their professions and the life-lessons that they’ve learnt along the way. It was really intriguing to see the similarities between these successful people, even when their careers are so diverse.
Other exciting activities included a talent show, a dance party and a mentor workshop on the last day, where we had 20 minutes with four of the 200 different mentors to ask questions about their careers and their lives. This helped us make connections to people in professions of interest to our futures.
Staying on the UCLA campus in real college dorms was an awesome experience in itself, as well as having the chance to meet people of a similar age and with similar interests from different countries. We learned more from this experience than we could have ever hoped and encourage anyone going into Year 11 to apply for the programme. We thank Ms Hatzis for organising the trip, our parents for their support and contribution, Ruyton, Ms Douglas and Mrs Gumley for enabling us to embark on this truly unforgettable experience.
India C and Ellora K, Year 11