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 Sparsh navigated Year 12 differently throughout 2021!
Introducing: Sparsh Polepalle
Category: Business & Entrepreneurship
School: Normanhurst Boys High School
Career Aspiration: Investment banking/Entrepreneurship/Equities
Achievements
- Co-founder of the non-profit organisation Elevate the Future Australia
- Co-founder Normanhurst Boys Alpha Leos
- Normanhurst Boys Prefect
What makes Sparsh a Trailblazer?
In 2020, Sparsh founded Elevate the Future Australia, a non-profit organisation offering a platform for students to have access to business education all around the world. Becoming co-president of the Australian national branch, Sparsh has been able to advocate for a cause he is passionate about — making business and computer science education equitably accessible on a global scale.
When the pandemic hit, Sparsh and his team responded swiftly, transitioning their team’s operations to the digital sphere. They migrated to online learning via digital workshops (which turned out to be a huge success!), allowing the organisation to continue helping students access the worlds of business and computer science. This experience helped Sparsh refine his leadership skills, bettering his capacity to adapt to various situations. According to Sparsh, it is this agility that allowed him to provide the support necessary to achieve such a successful outcome for his team.
Sparsh also spent his final year of high school being an outstanding role model for young students as a prefect on his school’s leadership team.
As if that wasn’t already enough, Sparsh also established his school’s first ever Alpha Leos club! Sparsh did this with the goal to help promote community aid.
Following the 2019 bushfires, the club managed several fundraising efforts to help provide financial aid to the Australian families that were affected. Two very successful Bunnings Barbeques saw the group raise a whopping $1,000! Sparsh credits this success to the detailed planning of the event, and effective delegation of tasks to different task owners. By doing this, Sparsh learnt important skills required to effectively manage teams and foster leadership.
This elevated understanding of teamwork is something that Sparsh recognises as his most valuable skill.
“Through these experiences, I’ve been better able to develop my teamwork abilities through accepting there’s no ‘right way’. The biggest thing I’ve learnt is that active communication between team members facilitates the smooth running of projects.”
Like many students in his cohort, Sparsh’s greatest challenge during Year 12 was lockdown. Being separated from friends, school and sport made life incredibly difficult. The uncertainty surrounding the HSC and school trials also did not help.
But Sparsh was able to persevere throughout all of this by leaning on his support network. Regularly checking in with family and really taking time to develop stronger relationships with friends made the seemingly endless days of lockdown more manageable.
Sparsh intends to continue pursuing his love for all things business by entering into a career in investment banking, entrepreneurship or equities.
After learning about all the incredible work he has done, it is no surprise that Sparsh has placed in our Top 50 for the 2021 Trailblazer Awards!
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.