If there’s a word that sums up how Student Leadership Team (SLT) President, Dooley Every, and Year 11 Vice-President, Amelia Bailey, feel about the year ahead it’s ‘excitement’.

Amelia, who studied Years 7 to 10 at BSE, had already heard of the many opportunities SLT offers BSSC students, and arrived at the college keen to get involved.

“I have friends who’ve been involved in SLT in the past, so I knew about the sense of community and the awesome opportunities,” she said.

“Training Day really lived up to those expectations. It’s a big team this year, but everyone is passionate about working together and supporting each other. The election speeches were all really engaging and genuine.”

Dooley, who was heavily involved in SLT last year, came into the new school year with the aim of taking on the presidency. A self-confessed workaholic, he loves the craziness of combining a study load of six subjects with his leadership role.

“I spoke quite a lot to last year’s SLT President, Alyssa Lai, and other past members of the executive, to find out how they handled their role, what’s possible, and the kinds of initiatives they never had the opportunity or time to implement,” Dooley said.

“I’m interested in a career media and politics, so SLT is a great opportunity to improve my public speaking skills, chair meetings, and bring a team of people together to achieve goals. It’s really exciting.”

One of the priorities for 2020 is to organise a College Formal that will, in Dooley’s words, “be BIG… a real success”.

“We want to get a lot more students excited about the Formal this year,” he said. “Our events sub-committee is already putting a lot of energy into making sure it’s a memorable event.”

Inclusion is also an important driving force for the SLT in 2020.

Amelia is part of the Student Engagement and Experience Development (SEED) sub-committee who want to foster inclusion and a friendly atmosphere at the college, with a strong environmental focus.

“We’re hoping to develop a series of workshops throughout the year that focus on real-life, practical skills that students will need beyond school,” she said. “We’re also working with the Wellbeing Team to be part of Cultural Diversity Week events from the 16th of March.

“Right now our priority is to get a survey out to students to find out what they’d like to see happen in 2020.”