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 Paris navigated Year 12 differently throughout 2022!
Introducing: Paris Obakpolo
Category: Arts & Music
School: Wollondilly Anglican College
State: NSW
Career Aspiration: Graphic Design, Videography and/or Photography
Achievements
- Received an award from her local council for a film that she created
- Year 12 Well-being Prefect
- Creating a film in the restrictions of COVID-19
What makes Paris a Trailblazer?
Paris’ creative flair has led to her receiving an award from her local council, the Wollondilly Shire, for a film that she created, being one of three winners. Through this film, Paris had to navigate filming despite COVID-19 restrictions, and could only work with the tools and people around her. In addition to her video work, Paris has played netball for 8 years, and basketball since year 7, demonstrating her versatility between art and sport. Paris has also done volunteering work, working with the local community pantry in Bargo, demonstrating her efforts to help those in need. Paris’ ability to give back to communities doesn’t stop there, as she has been elected the wellbeing prefect for her year, and is also on the Athletics Carnival Committee!
For her film, Paris had to utilise tools provided by her family to create her final piece, such as her step dad’s drone for birds eye view footage. As well as this, she had to convince her six year old brother and 13 year old sister to act for her film, which required great negotiation skills and a significant amount of patience to get the various shots she wanted. This helped to develop Paris’ ability to work with people, as she had to both incorporate what her siblings thought worked well for the film, and her personal intentions to portray her ideas to the audience. Being awarded by the Wollondilly Shire council helped to grow Paris’ confidence by assisting her to feel successful in her abilities as a film artist, and to reward her effort in the film.
With this being said, Paris’ year 12 journey has not been without challenges. Due to COVID-19, Paris acknowledges how difficult it has been to stay motivated, and the struggles of changing from year 11 to year 12 in the environment of a pandemic. The effects of zoom were certainly hard to deal with, as it was easy to feel disconnected from her peers, and unenthusiastic about her work. Due to this, Paris has had to learn how to manage her procrastination, so that she can push through the more difficult days to produce work of a quality that she is happy with.
“It taught me that not everyone will understand your views and aspirations and that is okay, you just need to help them to see things from your perspective in order for them to work with you.”
In the future, Paris hopes to work in Graphic Design, Videography, and/or Photography. Through her experience developing her film, and the skills that she has developed in working with others to create art, we are sure that she will achieve these dreams!
For this work on her film and other endeavours in arts scene, Paris certainly fits the brief 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.
