Meet the Future

Students at Melbourne Girls Grammar are bold, courageous and dynamic, ready to meet the future head on. They define their own path through the choices they make and the opportunities they embrace.

Shyla: Courageous changemaker

When you ask Shyla Baravkar, a Year 3 student at Melbourne Girls Grammar, how we can help make steps to reduce climate change, she maintains that it’s all about the little things we can all do that add up to big improvements.

“Mother earth is a living thing, so we have to treat her as we would like to be treated,” says Shyla.

Shyla is a passionate learner and advocate for animals, the environment and sustainability. Her support on these issues is completely self-directed as Shyla explores topics that actively interest her and support her passions. She started at the School as a 4-year-old in our Early Learning Centre. During her time at Melbourne Girls Grammar, Shyla has explored her excitement and passion for learning and is able to direct her studies towards these interests. 

At home, Shyla is an only child. Unless you count her pet dog Cinnamon, an appropriately coloured poodle who Shyla loves caring for and looking after. As an avid animal lover, Shyla can’t narrow down what she’d count as her favourite animal – simply because she loves them all so much it’s just too hard to choose. As Shyla says, “Every animal has a place in this world.”

With animals being a big love of Shyla’s, she has been able to connect the damage to the planet to the destruction of animal habitats, and this drives her passion to do what she can. It just makes sense to her to spend her lunch times picking up any rubbish her friends may have left behind, because every little bit counts.

Using recycled objects in her artwork, looking at the packaging she chooses while at the supermarket, putting a bowl of water out with sugar in it for bees, Shyla is always looking for ways she can help.

At the Climate March, Shyla proudly marched with over 100,000 people who share her passion for the earth and hold up her own message: I stand up for what I stand on. “Mother earth is a living thing, so we have to treat her as we would like to be treated,” says Shyla.

“This school has helped me stand up, and made me confident to stand up for what I believe in.”

When you ask Shyla what she loves about Melbourne Girls Grammar, the answer is simply “Everything!” Shyla has a strong sense about what she can impact. When she sees that something is unjust, she takes action, “I think it’s really important to stand up for what you believe in.” She is a girl who speaks up for what she believes in and at only 8 years old is a force to be reckoned with.

The School encourages big picture thinking, so that Shyla can think critically, act boldly and lead with confidence in the future. 

Shyla is a fantastic ambassador for Melbourne Girls Grammar, as she’s exactly the type of student we have at the School. Strong, bold, independent thinkers who look to the world outside their own to see what they can influence and where they can make a difference – “This school has helped me stand up, and made me confident to stand up for what I believe in.”

In a rapidly changing world, Melbourne Girls Grammar understands that the future requires schools to prepare students with a set of skills and knowledge to face the unknown. Through the challenge and choice the School provides, Shyla is able to define her own path through the decisions she makes.