Paris is undertaking a Bachelor of Communication (Strategic Communication) and a Bachelor of Laws at the University of Technology Sydney.
Paris’s inspirational narrative and her aspirations for her career have been shaped by three main influences.
The first is her commitment to children’s health and well-being arising from her having a rare medical condition, called exercise induced anaphylaxis. She has been involved with raising funds for the SPARCle Foundation Ball for the past six years to increase awareness of allergic disease. She has been a member of the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network (SCHN) Youth Council, including helping with the design of appropriate spaces for adolescents in children’s hospitals; as well as being a peer mentor of Allergy 250k, which runs camps for children with allergies.
The second is her interest in public speaking and debating which arose from her experiences at Ravenswood School. She represented her school in the Independent Schools Debating Association (ISDA) competition; received a Diploma in Communication from the Australia Speech Communication Association (ASCA); and has been employed by St Andrew’s Cathedral School to design and roll out their public speaking syllabus. From 2019 to 2022, she also represented Australia in the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships, being a finalist in 2021-2022, having previously topped the Australian selection process.
The third is her interest in social justice. In part, this has arisen from her grandparents’ decision to leave Timor for Australia to seek a better life. Equally, however, her debating prowess has led her to research climate related challenges, along with mental health and women’s disadvantage issues. She is a powerful advocate in all three areas.
These three formative influences are reflected in her career ambition, which is to pursue a career in human rights, with her long-term objective being to work for the United Nations in communications, thereby leveraging her degree, her powerful communication skills, and her interest in health and social justice. In essence, she wants to walk on a world stage to make a difference.
This Scholarship was donated by the Order of Australia Association.