Background
My name is Arjun Sembey and I am a primary school student. For our school public speaking competition, I chose to speak about Antarctica as I was really intrigued by Antarctica and how it is so far away and yet manages to affect the climate of the whole world. My speech was highly appreciated by my peers and teachers and won the best speech prize at school. Professor Steven Chown, who listened to my speech, encouraged me to become an Antarctic Ambassador.
I have been voted as the Global Captain at school this year due to my passion for environmental conservation. Since last year, I have been running a No Plastics campaign at school to ban the use of single-use plastics at school. I’ve managed to rally four friends to join my team so far but I will keep campaigning for other students to join me.
I love school and my favourite subjects are science, music and inquiry. I enjoy playing cricket and currently I am the top bowler for my club. I love reading fantasy books and I have finished Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia in both movies and books. I enjoy watching anime and my favourite video game is Minecraft. At school, I really enjoy being a buddy to a Prep student and support him in his transition to our school. My friends at school say that kindness is my superpower as I look out for anyone who does not have a friend in the yard during recess and invite them to play with me.
I am excited about visiting the SAEF lab at Monash University and learning to process Antarctic rock samples to understand how glaciers have changed over time. I read and watched a lot of educational content on Antarctica to research for my speech. It is a frozen wonderland full of penguins, icebergs and mystery. I dream of going on a frosty adventure and visiting it in person someday!