Western Bulldogs Leaders of the Pack Program

The College has been fortunate to have been involved in Leaders of the Pack, a Western Bulldogs Community Foundation Leadership Program.

Nineteen of our Year 10 students signed up to participate in the ten lunchtime workshops, which ran from the end of Term 1 until the middle of Term 2.

The program’s focus was to create a safe and welcoming environment that supported students’ personal development, decision making and goal setting while celebrating their cultural diversity.

Presenters from several organisations such as headspace, Victorian University, Victorian Women’s Trust and others, covered topics such as respectful relationships, mental health, gender equity, education pathways, and self-responsibility.

The workshops focused on developing a range of life skills to shape strong, community-minded young leaders.

I congratulate all the students who committed to the program and actively participated. Your engagement and enthusiasm each week were truly commendable.

Student reflections – Leaders of the Pack Program

I found all the speakers engaging and I enjoyed hearing their stories and what they had experienced. It helped me relate more to issues like racism and mental health. The presenters made us work together as a group, which helped us form new friendships. The program has taught me how to be more of a leader and understand that you can achieve anything if you are determined and work hard. 

Mary Marinjara, Year 10

“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get the credit for doing it.” Andrew Carnegie.

Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. In today’s society, challenges can arise at any time. To be an effective leader, you need to respond to these challenges with intelligence, strategy, and expertise. You also need to be agile and skillfully lead through change, drive performance, and cultivate a people-first culture of engagement and accountability.

This program taught us to look at our community and find opportunities to improve it. After many weeks of learning about gender equality from a male perspective, our Indigenous community and we, as the young generation of people, began to create an image of what it would be like to drive the next generation to success.

As the people who live in this community, we know firsthand what we want changed.

As our final challenge in the program, we did a shark-tank-styled sales pitch to put our skills to the test. It let everyone’s leadership style show.

We had dominant leaders who took charge and drove their group by giving people roles and keeping people on track.

Our influential leaders brought optimism and enthusiasm to the presentation, making it entertaining for all, and we had our quieter, more conscientious, stead leaders to help project manage the group’s ideas.

We only had four groups but the ideas that came from everyone were awesome. We had sensory bins, a study space for teenagers, a gamified version of Simon, and a park for all.

It really showed everyone’s personality and everyone gave it a go.

Many began the program because it would look good on their resume or got them a free hot lunch every week. However, at the end we all gained lifelong skills, became a great team and got a head start on becoming tomorrow’s leaders. 

Jessica Ferris – Year 10

I applied for the Leaders of the Pack program because I wanted to improve my leadership skills and learn new things about myself that I could apply to school and at home.

My favourite part of the program was the shark tank at the end of the program. I enjoyed working in a group; it was great listening to everyone’s ideas and pitches.

The program helped me become more comfortable speaking in front of a large group and increased my confidence.

I would recommend the program to others because it’s an opportunity to learn different things about yourself. It brought students from my year level together and taught us skills we will need throughout our lives. I am grateful to have participated in the program, even if my team didn’t win shark tank! 

Elesha Gruis – Year 10

Maria Krajina

EAL Coordinator