2023 School Magazine

LORD MAYOR’S YOUNG ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP NETWORK The Lord Mayor’s Young Environmental Leadership Network (LMYELN) is a unique project-management program run by the Brisbane City Council for Year 10 students who are passionate about making environmental change in schools. This year, Claudia Chin (10E), Angelica Ng (10B), and I were selected to represent BGGS. It has been a great experience to meet like-minded students from across Brisbane and discuss what’s important to us, what our School’s environmental goals are, and how we can problem-solve and work with the School community to reach these goals. The workshops, run at City Hall, have been incredibly enriching for us as we learned about the steps we can take towards creating a brighter, greener future. The goal of the program is for each school to develop a project that makes a realistic difference to the school’s environment and broader community. Every year, the project chosen for BGGS has a different focus, with this year’s focus being waste. With the help of the Brisbane City Council, our team has been working hard to identify environmental issues, conceptualise solutions, and implement changes to BGGS, alongside the Girls Grammar community and the GECO Club. Thank you to Ms Simic and Mrs Cross for this wonderful opportunity! Sameera Prasad (10W) Lord Mayor's Young Environmental Leadership Network Member The Lord Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council (LMYAC) is a leadership program run by the Brisbane City Council. Every year, one Year 10 student is selected from each school to be a part of this program and I have had the honour of being the 2023 LMYAC representative for BGGS. LMYAC is a wonderful program that aims to develop young people as leaders and enables students to act as voices for their school and community, as well as raise issues that affect young people. Four formal meetings, chaired by the Lord Mayor, are held throughout the year, where participating students are encouraged to provide input and share their ideas with local councillors. This role provided me with the opportunity to meet and discuss initiatives with numerous students in the Brisbane area. It was incredibly valuable since I not only was able to share my own thoughts, but also listen to many different perspectives. Most recently, we have been working on our ‘projects’, which is an idea that will be pitched to the Lord Mayor in Term 4. My group is focusing on a software program that will allow schools to check up on students’ mental health more efficiently. In addition, LMYAC has opened up more ways to be involved with the community such as volunteering at events. I’ve been involved with the LUMINOUS Lantern Parade and Homeless Connect, which were both rewarding. I’m very appreciative of this experience and look forward to encouraging next year’s BGGS representative. Ajin Kyoung (10H) PUSH-UP CHALLENGE This year BGGS participated in The Push-Up Challenge for the first time, and it was great to see so many girls give it a go. The challenge took place from 1-23 June, with the aim to encourage participants to engage in daily physical activity, and also initiate meaningful conversations surrounding mental health. With the help of our coordinator, Dr Stone, we introduced it as a School-wide Service event to raise money for the Push for Better Foundation. The Foundation raises awareness and engages people in mental health conversations through connection and education. More than 380 students and staff across 57 teams participated in exercising, talking about mental health, and making a contribution to an important organisation. This year participants could choose to complete the full challenge of 3144 push-ups or choose to do the half challenge of 1572 push-ups, and alternative exercises to push-ups could also be completed. Each day the participants had to reach an exercise goal that was to be accompanied with a mental health fact and conversation starter. At the end of the challenge, BGGS had raised $10 857 and completed over 500 000 push-ups (or alternatives). The 12W Warrior team took the win for the most funds raised and the 7 Lilley Fit Frogs completed the most exercises. We had a really great time and look forward to the challenge progressing next year! Ruby Coltzau (11R) and Sophie Bizzell (11R) LORD MAYOR’S YOUTH ADVISORY COUNCIL

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