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 Agalya navigated Year 12 differently throughout 2022!
Introducing: Agalya Pavalan
Category: Arts & Music
School: Baulkham Hills High School
State: NSW
Career Aspiration: Work in the medicine or health sector
Achievements
- Completion and performance of her Violin Arangetram at age 14
- Performed at multiple online and in person events
- Participated in an international Carnatic music competition where she won a special achievement award
- Nominated by the Hindu Council of Australia and made the final shortlist for the Gargi Women Award in the Performing Arts Category
What makes Agalya a Trailblazer?
Learning how to play a musical instrument and perform in front of a large crowd of strangers is definitely not easy. But, one of our fantastic Trailblazers for this year – Agalya Pavalan – has done just that, with an extensive history of learning Carnatic (Indian classical) violin for the past 10 years! This in itself is a massive achievement, with the dedication and effort taken to consistently learn her craft being highly commendable.
However, Agalya took this a step further, spending hours on end practising for and staging her Arangetram (a performance which signifies when one has reached a close to professional status). Her Arangetram featured a 3 hour long solo Carnatic performance, accompanied by renowned Carnatic musicians from India which she performed at NIDA in 2020.
This debut performance opened a variety of doors for Agalya as she soon became recognised as a talented young musician by the Tamil community in Sydney and was invited to perform at a variety of online and in person events including at the Indian Consulate’s Republic Day celebrations in 2021. Her subsequent musical achievements also include winning a special achievement award in an international Carnatic music competition, and a nomination and final shortlist in the Gargi Women Award in the performing arts category.
What makes all of this even more impressive is that Agalya was able to reach such musical prestige, at such a young age, while simultaneously excelling in school!
Her musical endeavours and her Arangetram preparation and performance in specific have taught her a variety of skills that she believes is highly relevant to life outside of school, this being teamwork! From learning to interact with new people whom she had never met before, to attending many hours worth of performance practice sessions with other musicians as well as working with a large group of people, Agalya’s teamwork skills have definitely been exercised through her musical journey, giving her some solid skills for the future.
“My violin journey has led to many opportunities for teamwork, with both acquaintances and new people, which I believe is a skill I can apply in a wide range of future work situations (even those unrelated to music).”
Like for many of us during COVID, keeping motivated and productive was a challenge that Agalya faced in which there were days where she felt burnt out and stressed. However, she pulled through successfully and achieved great things!
Agalya hopes to enter the field of medicine or in an area of health after the completion of high school.
Agalya’s hard work and musical talents have allowed her to leave a mark on her community – one of the many reasons 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.
