The lives of future generations are in good hands if Sophie Nakamura has anything to do with it. The Lourdes Hill College Year 12 student is the 2020 national winner of the Future Leaders’ Future Justice Award.
The award recognises Year 12 students who have shown outstanding leadership and initiative on intergenerational equity.
Lourdes Hill College at Hawthorne in Queensland is a Good Samaritan Education school. The Principal, Robyn Anderson, said Sophie was a very deserving winner.
“She is the 2020 College Service Captain and has not only made valuable contributions to the college in the field of social justice but has also been actively involved in community projects both locally and abroad. We are very proud of Sophie’s achievements.”
Sophie’s passion is service. At Lourdes Hill, she has been actively involved in service groups in the areas of human rights, people living with disability, homelessness, sustainability and animal welfare. During the college’s COVID-19 lockdown, Sophie worked tirelessly organising weekly service activities for her peers to raise awareness of human rights’ issues.
Image: Lourdes Hill College.
Sophie said she was grateful to Lourdes Hill College as it had supported her and given her numerous opportunities to follow her passion for service.
“In 2019, I made a trip to Thailand as part of the Rustic Pathways Program to attend the Critical Issues Summit,” she said. “It was at this summit that I learnt about the Radical Grandma Collective (RGC) and wanted to do something to help.
“The RGC is a group of grandmothers who weave scarves to raise funds in their fight for their agricultural livelihood after a gold mine destroyed their land.”
Sophie and her global team from the summit are writing a book to tell the RAC’s story in the hope it will be published next year.
Sophie’s ambition is to study Law and International Relations and continue to follow her passion for human rights.
Published in The Good Oil, September 2020.
