PEEL High Year 7 student Tabitha Miller is the only Australian student to have been recognised in an international essay competition organised by the United Nations.
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Hers was one of more than 15,000 entries received from 157 countries in the annual Goi Peace Foundation and UNESCO International Essay Contest for Young People.
Outside the first, second and third prizes, her entry was just one of 25 in the children’s category to receive an honourable mention.
Tabitha’s achievement was announced on a school assembly a few weeks ago and it came as a total shock. Her class learned of the competition through the school’s Japanese teacher, Tamara Hatton, with the students spending almost a week preparing their entries to the theme, The Power of Culture to Create a Better Future. Tabitha’s entry focused on the influences of various international cultures and traditions that reflecton the Australian way of life.
She also highlighted the aspects of Australian culture she was proud of, and values and customs she acknowledged had had a big impact on our lifestyle.
Ms Hatton said Tabitha had excelled herself in emphasising how the youth of today could make the most of their future in Australia and make a difference by creating a better future through our culture and traditions across the world.
The Goi Peace Foundation was established in Tokyo in 1999 with the aim “of promoting world peace, transcending all boundaries of race, religion, or politics, with a belief that peace begins in the mind of each individual”.
The foundation was named after Masahisa Goi (1916-1980), a Japanese teacher, philosopher, poet and author, who dedicated his life to peace and humanity after witnessing the destruction of his country, and many others, during World War II.
