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 Manit navigated Year 12 differently throughout 2022!
Introducing: Manit Gopal
Category: Social Impact & Change
School: Aspley State High School
State: QLD
Career Aspiration: Medicine
Achievements
- Awarded the Advance Queensland Community Digital Champions Award for digital contributions to the community in 2018/19
- School Captain
- Duke of Edinburgh (Bronze)
What makes Manit a Trailblazer?
Manit is a compassionate member of his local community who enjoys volunteering in a variety of different capacities, most notably receiving the Advance Queensland Community Digital Champions Award for his digital contributions to the community in 2018/19. Manit is the current School Captain and participates in a range of co-curricular activities, including Duke of Edinburgh (Bronze), Scouts QLD, Karate, First Lego League, Theatre & Musical performances, and playing the Tabla.
Throughout his volunteering career, Manit has been greatly involved in digital mentorship programmes for seniors in the community. During the lockdowns, Manit’s amazing contributions to his community during these challenging times involved virtually assisting seniors with all things gadgets and technology via a voluntary organisation named Communify. These services greatly assisted senior citizens in becoming digitally independent and helping them to connect with their children during isolation.
Prior to COVID-19, Manit voluntarily coached children for coding classes, for which he was awarded the prestigious Advance Queensland Community Digital Champions Award! On top of these incredible achievements, Manit volunteers every year at Agoonoree through Scouts, a camp designed to provide special needs children with the opportunity to experience Scouting. In his school community, Manit is the School Captain and actively participates in various Anzac and Memorial services.
“Volunteering teaches you to be patient, to be mindful, to be self-less, and at the same time to think of ways to better your surroundings for yourself as well as for others. This involves, determination and a birds-eye view of what you are doing unto others and why this is better for yourself.”
Finding the right balance between a healthy work-life schedule is a difficult task in its own right, but it’s a whole new challenge during Year 12. For Manit, the ability to balance the heavy Year 12 workload alongside his volunteer work, part-time job at Coles and co-curricular activities like Scouts QLD and Karate (aiming for black belt no less!) is no easy feat. Despite the overwhelming pressure, Manit has shown incredible discipline and dedication to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and routine to help him fulfil his goals.
After completing Year 12, Manit plans to go into a career in the medicine industry.
With an impressively long career of volunteer work, Manit’s amazing contributions to his local community has helped to brighten the lives of many people and has earned him a spot as 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.
