Captain Profile

CAPTAIN PROFILE – ASHLINN WALKER

What do you hope to achieve this year in your role?

As a captain, I hope to be able to leave an imprint on the school. That when people think of the year 2019, that they remember me as being Yellow House captain as well as making a positive change to the school. I also want to be someone that any student or teacher is comfortable to approach me for help or just to talk to.

Who is a leader you admire and why do you admire them?

A leader I admire is Jesse Owens. Jesse was the first African American to participate in the Olympics and his journey to compete there included many struggles.  Jesse had to work for his own money to support his family as the president of America at the time didn’t acknowledge his achievements. Jesse Owens had a lot of criticism towards being the only African American competing and had to put up with racial epithets and subjected to other mistreatments. At the 1936 Berlin Games he was there to win and wanted no part in the politics as it was at the time of the rising of the Nazis ad fascism in Europe. He went on to win four gold medals in the long jump, 100-metre, 200 metres as well as 4×100 metre which is more than any other American track and field athlete in a single Olympic game. He also broke the world records for long jump, 100 metre and 200 metres. After the games he went on to become a motivational speaker. 

Someone else I admire is Louis Zamperini. From a young age Zamperini was bullied for his foreign accent. He began smoking when he was 5 and drinking when he was 8. He hopped freight trains, ran money scams and stole food, using picklock wire. From some of the illegal things he did, his brother noticed how good of a runner he was and his brother got him into running. At the 1936 games in Berlin, he competed in the 5,000-metre run running a 4-minute race and placing 8th. In 1941 he was commissioned into the Army Air Force as lieutenant. He served as a bombardier in B-24 Liberators in the Pacific. On May 27, 1943, Zamperini and crew were called out on a search-and-rescue mission to find a crew that reportedly had crashed near Palmyra and on the mission the plane had technical difficulties forcing the plane to crash into the ocean. Zamperini spent almost seven weeks in 1943 adrift on a raft in the Pacific, with little food or water. They fought off the constant sharks that sometimes jumped aboard. He drifted west some 2,000 miles, right into the enemy’s hand. For the next two years, he was a prisoner of war. He was taken to a prison camp in Japan. Following the war, he initially struggled to overcome his ordeal. Later he became a Christian Evangelist with a strong belief in forgiveness. Since 1952 he devoted himself to at-risk youth which his family continues today.

What are some of your goals for the future? 

After school, I want to focus on my athletics for the year and then in 2021 I’ll enrol in either the army as an officer/solider or enrol in the air force as a pilot and fly the F-35 fighter jets. Later on, in my life once I have completed my time with the defence forces, I will join the police and go down the forensics side of the police force as well as continue on with my athletics again. My main goal is to be able to help make Australia a better country as well as helping out other countries in need. From fighting/defending countries to helping out families after a natural disaster. My other goal is to one day compete for Australia in either long jump, triple jump or pole vault. 

Final sentence for readers.

Life is not easy for anyone. Sometimes you don’t see the challenges on the outside, but every single one of us has both those and everything that goes on inside as well. Give it your all. Dare to be all you can be.