26
Wilderness Times | Spring 2020
WILDERNESS WOMEN
LEADING THE WAY Wilderness School is proud to be able to celebrate the successes of all our past and present students and the many outstanding achievements of our Wildy women. Leading the Way offers you an insight into some of our amazing old scholars’ lives, beyond the Wilderness School gates.
Ashleigh De Silva Australian Regional Leader Girl Up Club Class of 2018 In 2018 I was elected Vice President of my cohort and together with the SRC, created the first South Australian Girl Up Club. Girl Up is a UN founded organisation created by girls, for girls. Having always been a keen advocate for gender equality, the Wilderness Girl Up Club enabled me to channel my passions to advance girls’ skills, rights, and opportunities to be leaders. When girls rise, we all rise. Prior to Year 12, I was lucky enough to attend a national leadership conference where I heard from Girl Up. Girl Up helped me realise that at Wilderness, we are given such a pivotal platform to create change for an equal world. The Wilderness Girl Up Club has had such a profound impact in elevating the voices of all girls and continues to flourish two years following its creation. Upon finishing school, I applied for and was awarded the position of Australian Regional Leader of Girl Up.
The position entails independently leading the growth of Girl Up in Australia. One of the most rewarding moments was representing the organisation two years later at the same conference where I first heard about Girl Up myself. My piece of advice for aspiring Wilderness Girls is believe that you are ‘enough’. I almost didn’t apply for the regional leadership position as I doubted my capabilities to help lead an organisation that meant so much to me. Do not underestimate the power of your voice and your actions to make change, be it within the School, your community or globally. As said by Michelle Obama in the Virtual Girl Up Leadership Summit 2020, “with every action that you take, you’re proving that you’re not only the leaders of tomorrow, you’re the leaders of today.”
