From Friday, 1 through Tuesday, 5 March our Senior School Captains had the incredible opportunity to go to Canberra for the annual Australia wide Compass Student Leaders Conference.

This conference focused on self-leadership and the importance of learning to lead yourself before leading others. We delved into God’s Word and learnt the importance of not living for anything smaller than God's story.

One incredible highlight of the trip included meeting Captains from Christians schools all around Australia. We were able to form deep relationships and share valuable insight with each other not just during discussion groups, but conversations everywhere—by the pool, late at night in our dorms, even over a bowl of cereal. Student led worship kick started our mornings which further united us as brothers and sisters in Christ. On Tuesday morning the power went out, and so we gathered outside in God’s creation around a guitar and a box drum to worship our Creator. It was powerful to be reminded that authentic worship doesn’t need all the bells and whistles to be genuine.

A big focus of the conference was realising we are all a part of God’s story which doesn’t just finish at the end of the Bible, but continues with us today. We unpacked how powerful story is, how to read and understand the Bible well (it’s all about CONTEXT, people), who God is and how that relates to us as humans made in God’s image, who Jesus is, what sin has done to our world, and how to find our voice.

As part of exploring the Biblical Story, we visited Parliament House and the Australian War memorial. At Parliament house we were challenged by a presentation by McCrindle Research on Australia’s faith and belief as well as our population demographics, and what our response could be to these trends. We were inspired by a Kimberly Randle from FairSupply, who is a leader in addressing modern slavery in Australia and our region, and who was integral in the passage of the Federal and NSW Modern Slavery Act. At the War Memorial we were able to look at all the tributes to our fallen soldiers and had the honour of attending the closing ceremony.

On the last night we went to a bushdance in an working woolshed. We had an absolute ball celebrating our time together, beaming smiles on everyone’s faces as students and teachers alike got into the do-si-do-ing and heel-and-toeing… not to mention sharing a LOT of sweat.

Compass was such an incredible experience and has forged friendships that will continue for many years to come. We have learnt many valuable lessons that we, as Captains, are excited to carry with us into our leadership journey this year and beyond.

Tahlaya Drew and Zoe Maher
Year 12 Vice Captains