Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to announce the details of the inaugural Higgins Medal. In Higgins I am fortunate to have 42 schools in my electorate and they are diverse. They are diverse in religion—Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Greek Orthodox and secular—and diverse in school culture, focusing on science, the arts, sports or languages. And they are diverse in size—schools with the smallest footprint to schools that are large in size and number of students. But the schools have one thing in common: all of these schools are charged with the great responsibility of educating the leaders of tomorrow., As President John F Kennedy said:

We must do all that we can, to give our children the best in education and social upbringing—for while they are the youth of today, they shall be the leaders of tomorrow.

Today, I am announcing the Higgins Medal, an award to support leadership in our schools. A Higgins Medal will be awarded to one student at each participating school who demonstrates leadership amongst their peers, exhibits in their behaviour a commitment to the ethos of the school, demonstrates excellence in attitude and achievement, is a strong and consistent participant in school and community activity, and exhibits an awareness of others and their needs.

I will be writing this week to each of the schools to invite them to participate. Each student who is awarded a Higgins Medal will receive an individual Higgins Medal. A larger, perpetual honours board displaying the engraved name of each year’s successful recipient will be provided to each school for display in a prominent position. I hope this will encourage students in the electorate of Higgins to study with excellence whilst actively supporting their school community.