Application examples

Growing up, it’s easy to think of leaders as being presidents, prime ministers or mayors. These people are leaders in the most blunt sense, guiding teams who shape policy for communities large and small. As we get older, we can start to see that leadership is not just political direction, but actions by normal people that help others around them. Considering that even the smallest actions can have worldwide consequences, I believe anybody can be a global leader, and that a global leader is aware of how important it is to empower others.

One factor I consider important in any leader is a drive to give to community, where they use the skills or knowledge they’ve developed to improve the situations of others who may not have the opportunity to do it for themselves. Sharing of knowledge or wisdom is vital in empowering others, and a socially conscious leader knows this. Another important leadership factor is an appreciation and respect for our planet and the environments we live in. We’re living on the precipice of irreversible climate change, and if leaders do not participate in the solutions to this environmental catastrophe then all humans could suffer, especially those in poverty. Further to those two factors, I believe a leader should be a fundamentally kind and generous person, who brings others along with them in their successes, regardless of their gender, race or creed. People of any background have the potential to change the world, and should be entrusted to do so. 

In my current career path it has been difficult to commit to regular charitable activities, so I have done what I can to be a good community citizen. I have been a regular blood donor (typically matched platelets) for 18 years. When I earned enough, I became a financial contributor to UNICEF and Red Cross Australia for 7 years, trying to support children and families who are underprivileged through no fault of their own. But the environment has always been a passion of mine. I’ve recently been able to reach a long-time goal of installing solar panels on our home to reduce our dependence on coal power generation. I try to teach my kids to be environmentally aware every day. Being brought up with my parents’ attitudes against waste and over-consumption, my mind is always thinking about what I can do to help the environment.

Covid-19 has been a transitional time for me. It has been a catalyst to make some big decisions for me and my young family, take some risks and head in a direction that I finally know I want to go in. Part of that direction includes making a large-scale positive difference to how humans use the planet. My first step in achieving this is to become educated in the areas that I’m passionate about. I have been brought up being taught to show respect to our natural environment, and also with a healthy passion of engineering. Combining these long-engrained interests, I hope to obtain a combined degree of civil and environmental engineering, with a view to develop sustainable and cheap infrastructure solutions that allow rewilding of urban and suburban environments around the world.

To have a global impact, I believe I will need skills in building cross-culture relationships that have the power to change minds. My leadership skills have developed through my career where I regularly direct teams of skilled staff to produce strict outcomes. While I often work with international customers and staff, my leadership skills need development, practice and guidance.

More importantly than that, however, I feel it is important to build friendships with people who aren’t just our next-door neighbours. During open foundation I’ve been studying environmental ecology, and this has given me a much more concrete understanding of the breadth of impact humans have on the environment. Climate change is making it clear that citizens of the world need to band together across borders in efforts to create a sustainable human existence on this planet. As an educated and thoughtful leader, I can use the skills I will obtain through my studies to share solutions that can enhance environmental preservation.

I hope that as part of my future career I work on projects that are small steppingstones to solving larger ecological problems. As I do this, I will share my knowledge so others can do the same. As Elon Musk said in July 2014, if we’re all bailing water out of a sinking ship, and someone has the design for a better bucket, we should probably share the design.

In my research into the inspirational lives and friendship of Jack Ma and Ken Morley, the statement that struck me the most significantly were the words of Jack Ma when he appealed that people should “Help young people. Help small guys. Because small guys will be big. Young people will have the seeds buried in their minds, and when they grow up, they will change the world.” A statement so true in his own context also transcends to find a place in mine, as I have never allowed my limited resources to dampen my hopes of being a driver of change in the world. I believe strongly that the intrinsic basis of a person’s role in the worldwide community as a globally aware and socially conscious leader is defined thus, initially at least, by small acts of goodness, generosity in sacrifice, passion and a willingness to enact personal change and thus serve as a role model of such value for others, rather than grand gesture.  

As a person brought up in a low socio-economic background, I have learned to appreciate a person with $10 giving $5 to a donation box above an opposing $100 from a bursting wallet. Therefore, as an applicant of this scholarship, I believe I live by this value, and give everything I can (although it may not be much at times) in an endeavour to set an example for others and inspire widespread change. I hope that one day, with the support of a scholarship such as this one, that I may acquire the means to enact significant positive change within the world, concerning the intertwined relationship between poverty and environmental pollution I have always been so passionate about. Nearly 92% of pollution related deaths occur in low to middle income countries. (The Global Alliance on Health and Pollution, 2017). Thus, this issue currently poses one of the greatest public health and human rights challenges to ever disproportionately affect the poor and the vulnerable. Transcending an environmental issue, the disparity affects the health and well-being of entire societies. It is my hope that one day I may be able to contribute to inroads providing opportunities of simple and affordable solutions to this issue for those most exposed to its effects, and a corner stone of my own “bucket list” of sorts includes the dream of travelling to volunteer and assist those affected, to live their struggle in order to fully understand their plight and consolidate the most efficient and progressive way to solve it. Of course, as a student with a part time job within a single parent family, this is currently a pipe dream.

As aforementioned, while I cannot do much, I do as much as I can presently. These acts include involvement in the rescue of turtles in Sydney dams being filled for housing development through Turtle Rescue NSW, regular trips to local beaches in the Newcastle and Nelson Bay areas in order to preserve pristine environment for the wildlife that rightfully reside on our coastlines, support of both the Devil Ark and Aussie Ark initiatives in the Barrington Tops area, regular donation to organisations such as Greenpeace, membership to the Australian Herpetological Society, participation in a $110,000 fundraiser for the development of a breeding project for the endangered Manning River Turtle, campaigns against the use of popular “opera nets” due to platypus/turtle bycatch issues as well as the personal ownership of several (beautiful!) rescued endemic Australian reptile species and a steady, passionate dedication to my senior Earth and Environmental Science course in which I ranked 1st of 32 students in my HSC year, achieving an A in Year 11. I live by these values daily through an equal dedication to living in the most eco-friendly, by employing methods of refusing, reusing and recycling plastics, spreading awareness of the dangers of ocean and micro plastics, the perpetual promotion of eco-friendly alternatives to plastics such as bamboo straws, toothbrushes and biodegradable cutlery in lieu of single plastics in order to preserve the environment we so depend on for so many aspects of our lives, whether consciously or subconsciously, for mental wellbeing through to the maintenance of physical health. Perhaps most tellingly, I am also not afraid to walk out of Woolworths juggling a weeks-worth of groceries in two hands when I forget my bags! Whilst I do what I can now, I hope that the Ma and Morley scholarship could provide me with the keys to open the necessary doors and allow me to continue my efforts on a larger scale.

If given the opportunity to expand my study beyond these constraints, my priority will lie in the mission to minimise the link between poverty and pollution – a relationship in which nobody and nothing wins. I believe strongly that this issue is one that I could genuinely positively contribute to, given my passion for equity, justice and conservation of a natural, safe and mutually beneficial relationship between humans and our planet. Lastly, of course, the Preservation and Respect for Sustainability and Biodiversity Conservation which outline the values that lie at the heart of everything I do. As for the enormity of this issue, many times I have questioned my capacity –or any single person’s capacity to help significantly. However, referring back to Ma’s quote, I am truly confident that, if nurtured, the “seeds” buried in my mind have the capacity to change the world, despite the lack of an idyllic beginning- just as Jack Ma has done so eloquently through his tremendous passion and hard work.