What is Altitude Day? It’s a chance for Year 9 students across Australia to be empowered with the tools needed to unlock their potential. Throughout the day these young people are encouraged to dream big, regardless of fear of failure and judgement. It creates an opportunity for students to network and meet other like-minded people, as well as being inspired by a range of world class speakers. Altitude Day inspires, challenges, motivates, and has plenty of fun along the way!
Altitude Day 2018… 10 days, 2,600 Year 9 students, 17 guest speakers, 11 locations, 352 volunteer hours, 177 schools, over 15,000 kilometres covered and 52,000 new connections made between Year 9 students.
Throughout the 2018 Altitude Day Roadshow, the yLead team were lucky to meet a diverse collection of young people from across the country – from Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane (with our BIGGEST audience of 800 students – woah!), Gold Coast, Townsville, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Playford, and finally Perth. The students were empowered with five keys to unlock their potential (plus a bonus #6).
- ‘Discover your passion’ – Step 1: What do you love filling your time with? If you’re not sure yet, research & explore new things to try. Step 2: Find a way to LIVE that passion every day.
- ‘Challenge yourself’ – Step out of your comfort zone and be UNAFRAID to fail. Try things you wouldn’t normally do, and set big goals.
- ‘Recruit mentors’ – Ask for help from people that have already done what you want to do.
- ‘Draw a map, take action’ – Create a vision of where you want to go (this is where your mentors can help!). Like a map, your end goal doesn’t have one single way to get there. You may make some mistakes along the way and take a few wrong turns, but there’s always another route. Once you have the map, you won’t achieve anything unless you TAKE ACTION.
- ‘Champion mindset’ – A powerful positive headspace that allows you to appreciate and work through the challenges that face you – ultimately, pushing you to ‘never (ever) give up’.
At each venue, three incredible guest speakers shared their stories. These speakers are living examples of the yLead keys, entertaining each city with exciting moments and challenges they have faced in their lives so far.
There were local heroes like:
- Caitlyn Shadbolt (TWBA & SC) – Gympie local turned X-Factor star
- Mikhara Ramsing (BNE) – Founder of 2x Social Enterprises: Ground Chai & Ethnic LGBT+
- Hunter Johnson (MEL) – CEO of The Man Cave & 2018 Recipient of the Queen’s Young Leaders Award
Others shared their stories of courage when overcoming adversity:
- Ben Pettingill (SC, GC, MEL, SYD, ADL, PLAY) – Blind overnight at 16 years of age. Now the World Record Holder for being the only blind person to complete a Spartan Race untethered.
- Keely Johnson (TVL) – Childhood cancer fighter, charity starter, plus a duet single with Lee Kernaghan
- Brant Garvey (PER) – Paralympian and first Australian above knee amputee to compete in an Ironman Triathlon, setting a world-record time in the process
To learn more about all of the incredible speakers, you can read their individual articles answering our ‘Fast Four’ questions here.
And finally, in all locations except Melbourne, the students were treated to the one and only Rowie McEvoy! Rowie joins the yLead team every year on the Altitude Day Roadshow, sharing her message of how to live a HEALTHIER, HAPPIER life. You can’t help but smile around her as Rowie genuinely cares about everyone she meets. yLead is so thankful to have her join us every single year, in (almost) every single city. Read Rowie’s ‘Fast Four’ blog here to get her tips on how to live your best life!