Her goal is to finish her HSC with an ATAR that will lead her to her next goal, becoming a midwife.

Amy is bucking the trend of Indigenous students failing to reach their HSC and along the way she is reaping the rewards.

Amy is a quite a shy student but her leadership, determination to successfully complete her secondary education and her service to the school and wider community has not gone unnoticed.

Gabby Court, teacher and Aboriginal Programs Adviser, recognised these qualities in Amy and nominated her for a Zonta International Award For A Young Indigenous Woman.

Bronlyn Schoer, a member of the Awards Committee of Zonta International District 24 (NSW & ACT) attended the school assembly to present Amy with the runner up award. Bronlyn commented several times about what an outstanding young lady Amy is.

Amy is passionate about her culture and her family and is generous in sharing her culture and language. She has a long involvement with the Birpai Local Aboriginal Land Council and has also attended Port Macquarie TAFE to study Gathang language.

Her involvement with the Djiyagan Djuyal (Sister Voice) school program saw her working with both primary and high school girls over the whole district.

She also had a significant role in the Djiyagan Dhanbaan (Strong Sister) movement which encouraged the younger girls to take pride in their culture and perform at community events.

Whilst Amy is quite shy by nature her confidence has grown over the last few years along with her pride in her culture. She is a founding member of the school's Junior AECG, exhibiting both mentoring and leadership skills.

Amy generously shares her culture with other students, speaking to classes and teaching the words from Gathang language. She also performs Acknowledgement of Country in Gathang language for visitors to our school and at formal assemblies.

Amy mentors and supports younger Aboriginal students by helping out with Year 7 Orientation Days, with her regular attendance in the Aboriginal Support Room and she has always been a buddy to a Year 7 girl.

She assists Aboriginal Aunties/Mentors with organising morning tea, celebrations and cultural activities.

Amy is the youngest of a large extended family and has faced considerable challenges to even make it to school each day. Not only has she consistently achieved a close to 100% attendance record she has also been involved in a wide range of school activities.

Once Amy decided to pursue a career in Nursing/Midwifery she has utilised every opportunity to further this goal, including tutoring, study groups and university visits.

The rigours of HSC preparation have not come easy to Amy and she has had to work harder than most students, combined with her extra curricula activities and family responsibilities, this is no small feat.

Most impressive is Amy's enthusiasm for any opportunities offered that will further her goals. All her teachers cannot speak highly enough of her and her dedication to succeeding. Consequently, her teachers are more than willing to support her in all endeavours both academic and cultural.

Amy takes her family responsibilities very seriously yet manages to juggle these with school and community commitments. Her dedication to her studies is a very positive example to inspire the younger girls.

Amy received the Charles Sturt University Future Moves Achievement Award at the annual awards ceremony in both 2013 and 2014. Last year Amy received an Aboriginal Education Award for Outstanding Student Participation.

This award recognises Aboriginal students who have demonstrated a strong commitment to participating in a range of activities in their school and/or community.

The Aboriginal students nominated have to actively participate in a range of school initiatives, also have excellent attendance and be ambassadors for their school and or community, maintain a positive attitude and display good citizenship and positive relationships with peers and teachers.

Amy finished her day on Tuesday afternoon with some more exciting news.

Amy has also been accepted into the 2016 UNSW Indigenous Winter School in the study area of Medicine. This program hopes to inspire and give students the confidence to achieve their goals.