I originally came from a small primary school in Hillside called Cana. While I was there, I was a part of the school’s ‘Mary MacKillop Group’, which did things like cleaning and setting up school Masses, along with going to the local nursing home.

This represented the school’s love for religion and compassion and formed my original love and satisfaction for giving back to the community.

When I was first a Year 7 at this school, my faith was average, I liked religion as subject, but I didn’t really have a deeper connection to it. At CRCCS, I’ve been part of the Student Leadership and Social Justice Team since I was able to apply and from then I’ve come to the position that I have today, which is your Faith and Social Justice Captain.

I’ve grown a substantial amount mentally and spiritually since I was first part of this group, but one thing remains constant, the reason why I have wanted to be a part of this group my entire time at this school; and that is my love to make people smile, feel special and feel wanted. That is what every single person wants, to feel like they belong. And this is what this group is, it’s a place where likeminded people come together because they have a genuine want to make the world a better place. Even if that little thing that you do makes one person happy, you have done your job of being a part of this team and you make Ms Mattar, myself and everyone else on this team so proud of you.

In saying that, Social Justice isn’t just about giving freebies to the random kids at lunchtime that will come up to you asking for money, it’s about being just and fair in the actions that you make. You don’t join this team to wear the badge, you join this team to make a difference in someone's life. Yes, to be in this team, you need to have a sense of humanity and compassion and by all means, those things are extremely valuable to have, but you also need to be able to say no. Empathy is important, but you will not achieve justice by just being the kindest person but also the strongest person. My vision for this team is to bring into light the social dilemmas that we have right here in the community, faith is such a beautiful thing that doesn’t just consist of pure religion, but also the idea that no matter race, religion or goal, everybody is deserving of grace and love. I can’t wait to hear the ideas that our group can come up with this year and am so excited to see the one single face that we can make smile this year.