What are the Trailblazer Awards?
The Trailblazer Awards celebrates Year 12 students beyond their ATAR, recognising those who have overcome personal challenges and used their final year of school to positively impact their community.
Our Trailblazers will have the opportunity to network with industry leaders, build their personal brand and profile as a future leader, get exam ready in our 1-day HSC Trials Accelerator, and so much more!
Find out how Dhilsadhi navigated Year 12 differently throughout 2022!
Introducing: Dhilsadhi Ranasinghe
Category: Business & Entrepreneurship
School: Baulkham Hills High School
State: NSW
Career Aspiration: A career in finance with a focus on investment banking
Achievements
- Co-founder of non-profit organisation CONNECTUS
- Team leader of events coordination at non-profit PhenomeWomen
- Senior leader in school’s Business Society
What makes Dhilsadhi a Trailblazer?
Dhilsadhi’s passion for all things business has taken her far, being a high school student excelling in academics and the co-founder of a non-profit organisation! Dhilsadhi has been involved in a variety of extracurricular activities from playing the piano, peer tutoring, economics olympiads to business and entrepreneurship.
From entering entrepreneurial competitions such as the Tiger Global Case Competition (TGCC), ASX Schools Sharemarket Game and Generation Entrepreneur Startup + Competition to improve her knowledge of entrepreneurship and stock trading, to being a senior leader at her school’s Business society, Dhilsadhi has stuck to her passions whilst gaining a strong skills in business and finance.
These skills have culminated in her being the co-founder of a nonprofit organisation – CONNECTUS – which is currently in the preliminary stages of prototyping! The organisation tackles a prescient issue – the lack of opportunities available for youth collaboration with policymakers and researchers as well as the lack of diverse voices and perspectives within current youth advisory groups – utilising a software application to facilitate communication and collaboration between youth.
“Through the development of CONNECTUS, I hope to provide youth such as myself with valuable experience and a platform to collaborate with academics and policymakers to amplify their voices and exhibit prominent issues prevalent within younger demographics.”
Being the co-founder of a non-profit company has allowed Dhilsadhi to gain a wide variety of skills, whilst working towards change regarding an issue that she is passionate about.
Dhilsadhi is also thoroughly equipped with leadership skills, exercised through her position as leader at her school’s Business Society, her role, focusing on marketing and creative operations. She oversaw the promotion of the Business Society on social media platforms and provided weekly updates, which supported the increase in the number of attendees and participants in the club to over 150 members.
But no great success story comes without challenges. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dhilsadhi’s school year was significantly interrupted which included the staggered start to Year 12, filling her final year of school with uncertainty. This made it extremely hard to stay motivated. To add to this emotional low, catching COVID and having to isolate resulted in a loss of class time and inability to connect with her peers. Despite this, Dhilsadhi persevered and powered through the year!
Dhilsadhi hopes to pursue a career in the finance industry with a focus on investment banking as she believes it is a constantly evolving sector that provides exciting new opportunities!
Dhilsadhi has shown a breadth of skill, determination and highly attuned organisational ability – committing her time not only with her academics, but to a plethora of extracurricular activities, each giving back to society in their own unique ways, and this is why she is one of our Top 50 Trailblazers!
The Top 50 Year 12 Trailblazer Awards
The Trailblazer Awards aim to identify and celebrate students who use their final years of school to invest holistically in the skills and experiences that will maximise their own future opportunities and make a contribution to the future of our society.
Our winners for the Year 12 Trailblazer Awards have demonstrated initiative in volunteering for their school or community, have participated in co-curricular activities, and have held leadership positions within their schools.
Learn more about who placed in the Top 50 Year 12 Trailblazers here!
About Art of Smart Education
At Art of Smart Education, we’re an award-winning provider of holistic tutoring and mentoring for students in years K-12. Our mission is to help students answer the difficult question, “What am I going to do with my life when I finish school, and how do I get there?”
We understand that true success involves mastering study, career and leadership skills while maintaining your wellbeing, not just excelling in academics and as a result, over the last decade, we’ve supported over 10,000 students to achieve their best and maximise their options for life after school.
Each year over one million young Australians, parents, and teachers access our guides, videos and resources to navigate the journey through high school.
