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, learn key career skills in our 3-day Pathfinder Accelerator, and so much more!
Find out how Claudia navigated Year 12 differently throughout 2021!
Introducing: Claudia Smith
Category: Arts & Music
School: Orange High School
Career Aspiration: Medicine
Achievements
- Key figure in her local dance scene
- Successfully transitioning to online dance teaching
What makes Claudia a Trailblazer?
From Orange, regional NSW, Claudia is a passionate dancer and as a result, is heavily involved in her school dance community. She volunteers time to teach extra-curricular dance groups and is part of the Orange High School dance company. She has participated in multiple performance opportunities including local concerts, Western region festivals and School’s Spectacular.
In addition to this, Claudia teaches at United Dance Project dance studio, where she quickly transitioned from a student teacher to an independent one and now plans to achieve her diploma in Dance Teaching and Management.
The greatest skill Claudia has acquired throughout her experiences has been to have courage. She has taught herself to do so by building her resilience. With lockdowns and restrictions putting a stop to face-to-face classes, Claudia had to convert her dance classes to Zoom. She spent hours planning and researching to create a super engaging online program.
“As a dancer, courage is needed to take the stage or to keep practising even though your feet are bleeding, but as a teacher, the courage needed is more complex. Kids are unpredictable and have a diverse range of attitudes. It has taken hard work and determination, but I have finally reached a point where I have the courage to manage young children and their issues.”
One of the greatest challenges she faced in 2021 was the litany of disruptions her Year 12 cohort faced due to COVID-19. However, Claudia describes herself as a highly self-motivated individual, who was able to use this trait to persevere through this difficult time.
Claudia hopes to pursue a career where she can continue helping others. This has led her to the medical field and towards science — specifically new treatments, methods of prevention and technology that can innovate the field of medicine.
“My major career goal is to not only help my immediate community but to make my mark in the world. I want health equity and I plan to design treatments so everyone has access to the standards of health care that we are privileged to enjoy in first-world countries.”
Claudia 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.
