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Zonta Awards Alice as Best Speaker

Release Date: 28-Jun-2012 | Go Back

Roseville College Year 11 Student Council member and community volunteer, Alice Strauss has won the Pat Fisher Best Speaker Award, one of two major awards, at the Zonta International 21st Young Women in Public Affairs (YWPA) Awards Presentation Dinner on 13 June in Sydney.

Alice was nominated by her Year Adviser, Mrs Angela Knight, and Roseville College’s Director of Pastoral Care, Mrs Elizabeth Oakley. Both had observed her demonstrate an exemplary attentiveness to the needs and service of others.

“As a girls’ school that fosters community concern in our students, Roseville College is very interested in the advancement of women in broader society,” says Mrs Oakley. “Alice, who represents Year 11 in Student Council, leads by example in student government and by volunteering with community organisations, as does her fellow finalist, Year 12 Prefect and Student Council President Zoe McLaughlin.”

Introduced to the Roden Cutler Lodge in Gordon through a school initiative called ‘Building Connections’, Alice says she volunteers with the elderly at the Lodge because it matters. “Someone told me it is admirable that I give my time in a time-poor society, but I don’t think of it like that. I enjoy it and it matters. Volunteering was the decision I made in response to a need I saw.”

Alice hopes to study a Bachelor of Global International Studies and a Bachelor of Law, and to use what she learns to establish herself in a capacity for lasting impact in global development. “I want my personal contribution in life to mobilise many; attractive options are a national development aid organisation, the Red Cross or the United Nation.”

Founded in the USA in 1919, today Zonta International is a global organisation of more than 30,000 professionals in 65 countries working to advance the status of women through service projects and advocacy initiatives spanning economics, professions, education, health, law and politics. Australia has been part of Zonta International since 1966.

The Awards are open to women aged 16-19 years, who demonstrate leadership in a voluntary capacity and in student government. Among the 16 finalists were representatives from Abbotsleigh, Pymble Ladies College, Hornsby Girls High, Masada College, Brigidine, Killara High, Ravenswood and St Benedict College.

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MEDIA Informer Zonta Awards Alice as Best Speaker (411 KB)