The Eagle Has Landed The Eagle Has Landed
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The Eagle Has Landed

Last night I arrived in Boston MA ready for my Study Tour to Harvard.

For the past 24 hours, my mind has been swinging wildly like a metronome between “what the hell am I doing here, I’m not smart enough to go to Harvard!” and “eeeeeeee! Hurry up and get here, I can’t wait!”

Today I walked from my eclectic little loft apartment in Cambridge down to Harvard Square, where did a recon mission to find out where my course was going to be held (to save me getting lost tomorrow morning) and bought supplies for the week ahead.

I’m more than a little bit nervous. The welcome email said to wear flat shoes.

The only flat shoes I own are thongs (note to self, don’t tell people I wear thongs over here, it means something else), and ugg boots, which are perfect for the 3 degree celsius weather, but not so much for the snow.

I am yet to find a coffee place. You know what I mean, a coffee place that is friendly, serves good espresso, maybe a little food, and fuels you up for the day? It’s the kind of place you could happily open your laptop and work for a full day.

A wave of nostalgia washes over me as I think of theme song to the TV show Cheers and sing to myself ‘sometimes you want to go where your barista knows your name, and they’re always glad you came…’

*cue record scratch sound effect*

Today’s search for a coffee place did not end quite like that. I stopped in at Starbucks on my walk and ordered what I thought was a cappuccino: “I’ll have a medium cap, wet foam please” (Starbucks slang for ‘more coffee in the cup than froth’).

They served me a large cup of filtered black coffee.

Clearly, my accent is going to be a bigger problem than I expected.

I have scoped out a new coffee joint to try tomorrow. It is next door to The Rock n Roll Daycare Centre, where they encourage music and teach songwriting to kids. I think Tex and Scout would like that place.

Innovative Solutions to Complex Challenges with Anne Manning and Susan Robertson kicks off tomorrow morning, and I am raring to go.

Come at me, Harvard.

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Social Change Fellowship

Today the 2019 Social Change Fellows joining the W100 Scholars of the Westpac Foundation were announced, and I am humbled to be named among them.

This is an unbelievable opportunity, and I’m still pinching myself.

I have been granted $50,000 that I must invest in a development plan to increase the impact that I am capable of having as a social entrepreneur and change agent.

The funds will be spent capacity building, scaling the work I do with Champions Academy and using what I have learned to develop a global community of interest around the theme of rural contraction, decline and exodus, and showcasing extraordinary stories of renewal and revitalisation.

As part of this journey I will be travelling to Boston Massachusetts where I will attend Harvard University to undertake intensive courses in Design Thinking; Innovative Solutions to Complex Problems; and Leadership Communication.

In addition to being granted access to the Westpac Foundations’ network of professional expertise, I will also be working with some of the brightest minds and leading social impact organisations in Australia to scale the Champions Academy model and reach more communities in need.

I am so very grateful to the Westpac Foundation for this opportunity, and I am ready to embrace the challenge and learn all that I can, and implement it into everything I’m working on.

I hope to deepen my understanding of how we are changing as a society and discover insights along the way that help rural and regional communities to move out of a holding pattern of survival, and into a time of prosperity.

My heartfelt congratulations to my fellow 2019 Social Change Scholars:

  • Jethro Sercombe (Anglicare);
  • Tanya Dupagne (Camp Kulin);
  • Usman Iftikhar (Catalysr);
  • Lyndon Galea (Eat Up);
  • Dr Shelley Bowen (Health Futures Australia);
  • Nipuni Wijewickrema (GG’s Hampers & Flowers);
  • Vicoria Haar (Future Leaders);
  • Skye O’Meara (APY Arts Centre Collective); and
  • Summer Elizabeth (AbleFinder).

Each of these people are leading an initiative that aims to improve the wellbeing of Australians, and I hold them in the highest regard.

What a journey we have embarked upon together!

We will be officially inducted at the W100 Scholars Summit and Awards Ceremony in Sydney in April. In the meantime, I have a big learning curve ahead of me and will be learning as much as I can during my time in Boston.

In I go, boots ‘n all!

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New year, new website!

This year, I decided to go full grown up. That’s right, I’ve got myself a website.

It’s really a landing page so that people can contact me about Keynote Speaking, follow my work with Champions Academy, or reach out about The GCI Project (a global community of interest around rural regression and renewal), or any other projects that I am working on!

I will be posting regular updates via this site, chronicling my adventures and experiences as a Westpac Social Change Fellow, and all manner of other endeavours.

I guess this makes me an official blogger?!

If you would like to stay up to date with all the latest news, events, ideas, projects and opportunities, you can subscribe to this blog by entering your email address just over there, to the right of your screen –>

Before I sign off, a big shout out to local legends of amateur photography Tara Kenny and Carmen Rayner, and my partner Caleb Prime for allowing the use of their images on this page.

Also a big thank you to Andrew Griffiths for the benefit of his experience and guidance in designing this site, as well as Ben Versang for being my IT guru and WordPress whisperer (check him out on Mahi Web).

There is a lot going on in 2019, and I look forward to sharing it with you along the way. Stay tuned!

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