Along with Vice Captain, Pema, Dunithi wanted to build on the strengths in the School community. “We wanted to explore the concept of love,” she says. “Loving others, and being passionate about what you do, and celebrating your own talents without feeling judgement,” she explains.

For Dunithi, the concept behind the slogan “Dare To Love”, stemmed from her own experiences.

“I feel like self-doubt and not having the confidence to take on opportunities has been the main thing that has held me back from trying new things,” she explains.

“So for me, personally, I knew I definitely had to work on being a bit more confident in myself. I’ve really been trying to work on that.”

Over the years, Dunithi has found the opportunities at Ivanhoe Girls’ a perfect way to step out of her comfort zone and build confidence, and she’s played an active role in music ensembles, Debating, Student Representative Council and Amnesty Club. “I’ve been able to work on my public speaking and express my opinions,” she says.

But when COVID-19 hit Australia in March 2020, that community spirit, courage and confidence to try new things suddenly took on a whole new meaning.

As they prepared for their last year of secondary school, the last thing the Year 12s were expecting was a pandemic. The sudden transition to offsite learning required a major pivot for the entire school community, and for the Year 12 Leadership Team it required a major re-evaluation of their goals and strategies. Activities like student-run assemblies in The Centre Ivanhoe were suddenly impossible. “We definitely had to be adaptable and flexible with our thinking,” says Dunithi.

Social media was key. “We relied on the School Prefect Instagram account to do a lot of endorsing of our slogan and running initiatives. We formatted student-run assemblies as virtual assemblies at the end of each term, and we had Instagram stories that ran every week,” she says.

“Even though we couldn’t be together in the one space at school, we still had a platform that we could go to and still feel that connection.”

This pivot to social media was a lesson in agile learning. “As the year went on, we took what we learnt from the first lockdown and we adapted and reevaluated what worked and what didn’t,” explains Dunithi.

“When someone had a great idea we had to stop and say, how can we format this so it still works, but be online,” she explains. “We had to start asking ourselves different questions, look at things from different angles and be a bit more creative with how we could express the things we still wanted to express.”

“Coronavirus definitely pushed us to lead in a new way that none of us were prepared for at the start of the year, but by the end of it we had gained so many new skills.”

As School Captain, Dunithi was all too aware of her responsibilities to the school community during the pandemic. “It definitely drove us,” she says of the Student Leadership team. “It’s been a trying time for the whole school so we needed to be there to lift up the spirits of the school community,” she says. “We tried to do things that would keep students entertained and feel like they are doing things together, while they are at home.”

“We didn't have events like House Performing Arts and House events running this year, and a lot of school spirit and a lot of the energy in our school community stems from those events,” she explains. “So we had to work extra hard to make sure that people felt the spirit of Ivanhoe Girls’ during this, even though we were not physically together.”

Dunithi had to also reevaluate her own expectations for her final year of secondary school. “I’ll be honest, I was definitely annoyed about it,” she says, when offsite learning started in Term 1. “This is our Year 12, and of all the years, why this one?” she says. “I got into a rut of being negative,” she confesses. “But being negative and disappointed only gets you so far.”

“We didn’t get to do the usual Year 12 things. We didn’t have a Formal, we didn’t get to go to Lorne [Year 12 Conference] and it’s alright to feel disappointed about that.”

“But it comes back to being adaptable,” Dunithi explains. “We couldn’t physically have parties together, but we had Zooms together and celebrated birthdays online. We had to adapt so we could still experience those monumental Year 12 experiences but in a new way.”

“Knowing that we are not alone and that we have each other I think has been very reassuring, and it's combated the disappointment,” says Dunithi. “We’ve all faced this together, and we’ve all made different memories together and we’ve all come together. This has definitely tested us, but it’s also brought us closer together.”

On a personal note, one of the things she has noticed is that she’s become a lot more reflective this year. “It stems back to the 'Dare to Love' slogan idea of being yourself,” explains Dunithi. “I try to journal every day, to write things down. I take time to put away the business of my life and reflect on myself, reflect on what’s happening around me and reflect on how I feel. I’ve definitely become more self aware and more reflective this year, especially when we’ve been at home.”

As a result, she’s looking at her future with a slightly different perspective. While a career in medicine beckons, she now wants to pursue more creative activities as well. “It’s made me think how can I possibly implement something creative into my future plan?”

Looking back on a challenging year, Dunithi has nothing but gratitude for her fellow Year 12 students. “I’m just so proud of everyone. Everyone has stayed so strong and it's been amazing to see our Year level coming together and being so resilient.”

“It’s reaffirmed how strong our community is at the School. No matter what challenge we face we are able to bounce back and still keep our spirit, still keep our vibe. I’m proud to be part of a community like that.”