Zara is a proud Birpai woman who has also joined with other young Indigenous girls to form their own catering business with a focus on using bush tucker ingredients.

The Kitchen Garden Program for Secondary Years was launched in 2020 by The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation with the support from AstraZeneca Australia under their global Young Health Programme.

Zara said championing the importance of cultural identity for Indigenous youth is something she is very passionate about.

"The garden program has inspired our Aboriginal girls to develop a list of produce they would like planted to use in our catering business. This has provided us with a sense of belonging and confidence and showcased our entrepreneurial skills," she said.

The Year 11 student is also part of the school's Sista Connections program that empowers Indigenous girls to be leaders and future role models.

"The program's objectives emphasise building friendships, resilience, connection to community, connection to self, connection to culture, increase in school attendance, academic and personal achievement, and facilitation of post-school transitions," Zara said.

"The Kitchen Garden Program has allowed our school to beautify an ugly, bland corner of the school, outside our home economics classrooms, into a vibrant space where students are happy to be.

"This space has been turned into a dynamic space full of colour and excellent produce used in our home economics practical lessons."

Students have been able to select the plants and grow the produce in the garden themselves.

"It has allowed us to understand the impact of paddock to plate," Zara said.

"This means we also learn to pass that onto our families through cooking and growing produce in our own backyards."

The Kitchen Garden program has also highlighted the importance of healthy eating for students at the school.

"It has also been a catalyst to our Shop Sista Catering Program. This term, we prepared for our first external catering job for Essential Energy," Zara said.

"The garden program has inspired our Aboriginal girls to develop a list of produce they would like planted to use in our catering business."

The 12 garden beds have been constructed by woodwork and metalwork teachers and students at Hastings Secondary College.

"We are excited to be planting an incredible selection of plants and have integrated selections of indigenous plants and herbs Zara said.

Zara is currently studying a Certificate III in Hospitality. After graduating high school she hopes to be more involved in the community.

"I have not decided yet on what I wish to do because there are so many opportunities out there, and honestly, I wish I could explore them all but have such little time," she said.

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