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 Omkar navigated Year 12 differently throughout 2021!
Introducing: Omkar Deshpande
Category: Business & Entrepreneurship
School: Baulkham Hills High School
Career Aspiration: Actuarial analyst for an investment or consulting firm
Achievements
- Founder and leader of The Business Club
- Leader of 2 Generation Entrepreneur Courses
- USYD Business School Award Recipient (2019)
What makes Omkar a Trailblazer?
Inspired by his goal to make a positive contribution to the community, and his passion for investing and economics, Omkar is the founder and leader of the Business Club at his school! The club covers topics that are essential to everyday life, such as investing and basic money skills. These are topics Omkar has discovered to be inherently lacking in school curriculums, even in Business Studies and Economics.
As leader of the group, Omkar created a roadmap and presentations for all the topics the club would cover. He even took initiative to reach out to higher powers and Business societies from other high schools to organise inter-school competitions and challenges ultimately encouraging more students to take an interest in their finances.
The Business Club accumulated over 50 regular attendees and 20 students who have been inspired and now invest and enter their own individual competitions such as Gen-E and the ASX Sharemarket Games. During the GameStop saga, the club invited Economics teachers to give presentations on concepts such as the Short Squeeze, introducing members to relevant economic ideas. Omkar is also a Senior Tutor at Kumon and has completed work experience at JP Morgan.
Throughout his experiences with the Business Club, Omkar has developed incredible leadership skills and learnt to take initiative when he feels he can make a difference! At a young age he has also learnt to take on constructive feedback, a rare and useful skill for emerging students!
Omkar is the leader of 2 Generation Entrepreneur Courses, a program that fosters change by developing real-world solutions to real-world issues. Halfway through the program, the team received criticism and Omkar was able to gather the team, breaking down the critiques and improving the finished product. Omkar’s team won the competition!
During the pandemic, Omkar even found himself developing organisational skills and connecting with peers to stay motivated. Omkar was able to maintain his passion for Economics, Business and Investment!
In the future we expect to see Omkar pursuing a career as an Actuarial Analyst for an investment or consulting firm, playing to his strengths in Maths and Economics whilst exploring his passion for finance. Even with this clear path forward, Omkar is also increasingly interested in emerging roles and job descriptions!
“This experience has taught me to remain committed to my goals and demonstrated how rewarding it is to help others.”
Reading this impressive bio, it is not hard to see why Omkar has been selected 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.
