We were thrilled to host the very first ABCN Leadership Summit on the 13th and 14th of August this year for our inaugural ABCN Scholarship Foundation winners from around Australia.

The two-day event for students and their mentors began with lunch kindly hosted by the Commonwealth Bank, providing an excellent opportunity to meet, mingle and network. This was followed by sessions on both days facilitated by Craig Griffin of Team Performance Advisory that included effective communication, goal-setting and leadership skills.

On Wednesday night students and mentors were joined by many of ABCN’s Board and Council members and school principals to enjoy a dinner hosted by J.P. Morgan. Together we celebrated nine successful years of ABCN and the first year of the ABCN Scholarship Foundation.

For the students, the Summit was a life-changing experience. ‘Learning how to make conversation and build rapport with someone was an invaluable skill to gain. We were able to put into practice everything we’d learnt during the day when talking to the CEOs and business people at dinner. It was nice to know that they are just like us and not that scary at all’, commented Fadila from Bankstown Girls High School.

The whole event was an enormous success. It was wonderful to have 10 of our scholarship winners together for the first time – five from Victoria, one from Queensland and four from NSW – and we were grateful to mentors from KPMG, Navitas, PwC, Norton Rose Fulbright and UBS who were also able to participate.

We are delighted that there is now also the capacity to donate to the ABCN Scholarship Foundation via the ABCN website www.abcn.com.au. Donations are tax deductible and will enable us to provide more scholarships to exceptional students from high-needs backgrounds so that they can receive mentoring and leadership development opportunities.