Antarctic adventurers, a transgender businesswoman and the chief executive of the Cancer Council Australia were among the inspiring speakers at a student leadership conference at the weekend.
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A group of about 100 students from around the state took part in the student-run event, which has been held for eight years at the University of Wollongong.
This year's theme was "Challenge: be the difference", with students learning from individuals who have faced different kinds of challenges.
"It's based around having these amazing keynote speakers and also a lot of workshops, which are about skills development," conference organiser Laura Sanford said.
"Today we've heard from Cas and Jonesy [James Castrission and Justin Jones], who are mad adventurers who have kayaked across the Tasman to New Zealand on their own, and trekked to the South Pole and back unassisted."
Another organiser, Laura Polson, said the most valuable lesson had come from transgender businesswoman JoAnna Ferrari, who has been rebuilding her career since she transitioned from being John.
"I learnt that you can kind of lead multiple lives, and I don't think we ever get told that," Ms Polson said.
"JoAnna had all these successes business-wise in her life as John and now she's having new successes in a different way, so I guess I just realised we've got quite a life ahead of us and there's so much you can do."
