St Mary MacKillop College student and winner of the ABC’s Heywire competition, Navneet Bhatha joined young Australians from all over the country for a summit in Canberra last week.
The 16-year-old Year 12 student was one of 41 winners of this year’s Heywire competition, beating out over 700 other entrants.
The competition encourages young people aged between 16 and 22 who live in regional, rural and remote Australia to share their stories.
In her winning entry, entitled ‘Quit Racism’, Navneet wrote about her struggles with overcoming racism she faced in Swan Hill and the importance of cultural inclusion.
“I believe there should be more awareness created about cultures, their religions and their beliefs especially in remote communities like Swan Hill,” Navneet wrote in her entry.
“Just like me many people have or are experiencing racism. People need to begin judging people from their inner personality and qualities not their race and colour.”
Navneet said she originally wrote her story as part of a school assignment.
“I didn’t really think I would get in but thought it (racism) was an important topic to write about,” she said.
As part of her prize, Navneet attended the annual Regional Youth Summit in Canberra last week.
During the six-day program, politicians met with Heywire winners to hear what matters to them.
“It was a really good experience. I would highly recommend it to anyone,” Navneet said.
“No one really knew each other at the start, but at the end we were like a big family.
“We all had our own personal experiences and all came from regional and rural backgrounds. The Heywire mentors were all very supportive.”
To read more about this story, grab a copy of Wednesday’s Guardian (February 15).
