MIKAYLA HELMS

However, the biggest thing that I hoped to achieve at this school was a better education, allowing me to be able to reach my dream career by receiving a scholarship into University.

During my first year at CGS, I greatly struggled socially and academically due to being homesick. I rarely got involved in school events and felt alone. It wasn't until I immersed myself in the wonderful school culture that I felt like I had a place at this school. I picked up house music and swimming captaincy roles within my house, I was a companion on the 2022 Sony camp, I was extremely grateful to be announced as CGS Dance captain and just recently was a performer in my last school musical, Chicago.

Canberra Grammar School has provided me and the other Indigenous Scholars with so many wonderful opportunities both culturally and academically. We have been able to participate in cultural activities such as dance, yidiki, language workshops, painting and Aboriginal studies excursions. At this school, I am surrounded with like-minded people who also want to do the best they can in life which both encourages and pushes me due to my competitiveness.

This school also cemented my decision to study medicine in hopes to become one of the 400 Aboriginal Doctors in Australia. I have experienced firsthand and witnessed the devastation my own nation and other remote communities are facing. Children are not attending school, parents are out drinking every day, there is poor cultural self identity and there are minimal people who are there to help them. Because of this, I would like to become a doctor so I can work in remote communities in an attempt to assist with closing the gap, and keeping Aboriginal populations safe and strong.

Thank you.

Year

Hi, my name is Deklan and I am a proud Yuin man and a Year 10 student at Canberra Grammar School.

I’d like to begin today by thanking everyone who has given all of the Indigenous Scholars, including myself, the opportunity to participate in this wonderful experience that is attending CGS. It is an opportunity that I will be forever grateful for and one that has shaped me to be the man I am today.

I have been attending CGS since last year and it has already given me more opportunities to better myself than I would have had at home. Home for me is a little south coast town named Ulladulla. I am forever grateful for all the possibilities that have been opened for me as a Grammar student.

Moving to CGS and being a boarder has at times pushed me past limits I never thought I could overcome and allowed me to achieve goals beyond my imagination. Before coming to CGS I had to overcome lots of challenges, these included a poor learning environment due to the continual disruption in classes due to students lack of interest in learning. However, I had to keep making light of a bad situation.

Another challenge which was tough was when my home burnt down in the 2020 bushfires which led to my whole family having to couch surf with other families while I started Year 7. Such great a start to high school!

Following this is when covid made it much more difficult for me to adjust to high school along with not having a reliable Wi-Fi source at home. This meant pretty much living at friends and cousins houses just to attend school. This caused lots of stress not only on me because of the drastic change, but also on my parents having to organise ways for me and my brother to be able to attend school.

Then in 2022 it all changed. I was determined to attend school at CGS. I wouldn’t take no for an answer. It took whole PowerPoint presentations to convince my parents to let me apply for the scholarship. That was the greatest decision they ever made! Canberra Grammar School has been one of the best things to happen to me, like the light at the end of the tunnel.

My education and future have been looking the best it’s been in years. In saying this, I will be honest. I struggled at first with keeping up with the workload and living away from home, but it was beneficial to further my education and my personal growth. It took me nearly the whole year to finally adjust to workload and life at CGS, but I now belong at a School I love and where I also get support.

The areas at CGS I enjoy most are the friendships that I have built at boarding, the culture within the School to strive to be the best that you can, whether this be in the classroom, on the sporting fields and as a person along with the competitive nature of the House system and co-curricular.

I would like to acknowledge that none of the above would have been possible without the Indigenous Scholarship that CGS offers. For me I wouldn’t have this opportunity of a lifetime without the support of everyone who made the Indigenous Scholarship Programme possible and gave me the chance to be a much better person than when I started this journey. I would like to give special thanks to Dr Garrick, Mr Smart, Mr Waser and all who have allowed me to grow and make contributions to the community in a positive way. This has not only made an impact on myself but also younger people in the local community as I have given inspiration to many younger students including my younger brother. It would be an honour to be a boarder alongside him watching him grow as a young man and I hope he can experience the same opportunities and more that I have experienced thus far. It was such a privilege to be recognised and receive an award on presentation night all in my first year at CGS.

The impact the scholarship has had on my family and I has been so positive, they are incredibly proud of my achievements since attending Grammar and excelling in many areas. I am aspiring for a future in physiotherapy which the school has provided me with. I have spoken with many people to help and support me to achieve this goal and I’ve begun steps to develop attain this dream of mine. So, to everyone here tonight, I tip my hat to everyone who has given me the greatest opportunity I have ever received in my life.