Stand Tall Dream Again Regional Tour 2022

TAMWORTH | DUBBO | SOUTH COAST

Stand Tall Tamworth, October 27 2022

TRECC

Stand Tall Dubbo, November 3 2022

Dubbo Showground

Stand Tall South Coast (Pambula), November 10 2022

Pambula Sporting Complex

The Stand Tall ‘Dream Again’ Regional Tour was a huge success!

Stand Tall was invited by the NSW Government to bring the successful live Sydney event to 3 regional NSW centres. We held highly successful events in Tamworth, Dubbo and Pambula in October/November 2022, making it possible to positively impact over 7,000 students, teachers, volunteers and guests from Regional NSW with a dynamic message of hope.

We received enormous help from teams of local volunteers at each location, as well as the team of tour volunteers who travelled the 2,100kms from one venue to the next.

Each of the three major events had an inspirational line up of speakers and talent including Glen Gerreyn, Michael Crossland, 2020 Silver Olympic Medalist Nicola Olyslagers (Nee McDermott), blind Brazilian big-wave surfer Derek Rabelo, reformed drug dealer Tony Hoang, Olympic Swim Captain Dan Smith, actress Anna Coquerel, dancer/singer Timomatic and The Voice winner Bella Taylor Smith.

A highlight of the day for students was a student dance competition featuring special guest dancer Sisqo for a chance to win a gift card sponsored by JB HIFI.

Lunch breaks at each location included an outdoor stage featuring local young artists and a Freestyle Motocross Demonstration by the Freestyle Kings at the 2 tent events in Dubbo and Pambula. Coles generously donated water and fruit at each event providing young people with some healthy refreshments.

Special mention to local agencies who volunteered to assist on the day with their community services including Lifeline, headspace and Rotary, and a thank you to PCYC for coming to Pambula.

There were 183 buses fully sponsored by Transport Access Regional Partnerships removing a transport obstacle for rural schools. This funding enabled many schools to bring their entire cohorts on the day and teachers report to us that this has caused a positive culture change to the entire school.

At our Dubbo Event, Full Spectrum Education ran a fun jellybean guessing competition and 4 student winners were able to receive a scholarship to the value of up to $8,000 each in educational support.

Overall it was privilege to provide students across Regional NSW with an in-person experience to our major well-being event with the result that we have equipped young people with the skills to overcome difficult times and build personal resilience. Hundreds of students have voluntarily reached out to thank our speakers and Stand Tall over email and social media. They all report very strong positive changes in their lives, some saying that their lives were saved. Teachers told us they were most grateful for the support that the events will give them in the class lessons and also were very appreciative of the lunch provided in the Teacher Hospitality marquees.

It is our dream that the Stand Tall Regional Tour will continue to impact and inspire young people. We have engaged independent measurement experts Huber Social and look forward to sharing valuable insight into the well-being of Australian young people in the new year.

But don’t just take our word for it! The videos and feedback below speaks for us!

Above are the schools who attended one of our Stand Tall Dream Again Regional Tour events! Tamworth schools are blue, Dubbo schools are yellow and our South Coast schools are green.

Most of our amazing volunteers and staff who travelled from Tamworth to Dubbo and Pambula on the South Coast. Huge thank you to all our singers, speakers, musicians, production crew, registration and logistics team, lighting, staging and tent crews.

Watch our social media highlights below!

Here is what others are saying…

“I wanted to write to personally thank you and your team on behalf of Calrossy for a wonderful Stand Tall event in Tamworth last week. I really enjoyed being there and was disappointed I had to be in Port in the afternoon, meaning that I missed the afternoon session. I received lovely feedback and it was such a positive thing for our students to be involved. It supplemented what we are doing with our students post COVID. Hope for students is such a big thing.
Congratulations to your team and thanks so much for bringing Stand Tall to the regions. Your support of our students is valued and appreciated.” - Principal, Independent School

“I am in year 10 at Farrer and I attended [Stand Tall] on the 27th of October in Tamworth. I felt passionate about many of the things you spoke about and you have given me the confidence I need to move forward with my goals.” - Student, Government School

“I have waited a week to send this note, wanting to digest the affect of the day on our students. The ongoing ripple effects on our school have been too numerous to count! The conversations about the speakers and the content of their messages have led to many further meaningful discussions. There is not one Student or Staff member who has not said they enjoyed or were positively challenged by the day.” - Wellbeing Teacher, Independent School

“It was an amazing day. I wanted to say a big thank you for a fantastic event. I was touched and blessed through the openness, insight and honesty of the presenters. Thanks for reminding us what’s truly important in life. We all know it, but get so caught up in the perceived struggles we easily forget. Thanks for your giving nature and your pursuit for helping others to awaken and live their best life. Cried my heart out. You touch hearts and reach deep within souls, which enables me to rise with confidence.Thank you so much for inviting me.” - Youth Development Officer Community Services | Dubbo Regional Council

“I just want to say THANK YOU [Stand Tall] so much for helping our students get to the Stand Tall Event in Pambula! They were on such a high yesterday, full of chat, full of excitement. And so were the staff! The school was buzzing. I was not able to attend personally (sadly) as I had to attend another engagement, but I was inundated throughout the day with photos, comments, light-hearted quips. They were having such a great time and seemed to come back with lots of good messages. My Year 10 English class yesterday spent the entire lesson telling me about what they'd heard and seen and I was swamped with looking at all their photos. They loved it. Thank you too for helping us with the bus. Without that help, the cost would have prevented a lot from going. As it turns out, we were able to send all our secondary students PLUS all our secondary staff. This has never happened before.The kids were great because of how well organised it was, and so our staff had a really happy enjoyable stress-free day. A lot of 'revving up' had happened before the day itself, but no one expected the event to be as good as it was. After the experience of drought, being encircled by fires, smoke and ash for months during the bushfires, and then the icing on the cake - Covid - and now floods, there had been such a sense of hopelessness, and lack of interest and motivation. It was like: don't get your hopes up too high because it will all come to nought - again. So, on so many levels Stand Tall was a healthy and happy thing to do. If you ever do it again, please consider us again. We'll be there with bells on! Thank you so much.” - Secondary Curriculum and Pastoral Care Coordinator, Independent School

“My son, a year 9 student was at the event in Pambula yesterday. My husband and I were so wonderfully delighted by his detailed sharing about the event and his level of engagement and motivation following. He was particularly vocal about your [Glen Gerreyn’s] presentation and your key messages. We wanted to thank you for your contribution to the lives of all the students who were present yesterday. I hope many had the same wonderful enriching experience that our son did.” - Parent

“I would firstly like you thank you [Glen Gerreyn]. Your talk on the 10/11/22 was awe inspiring. Your speech along with the other excellent stories and lessons from your fellow speakers i.e. Michael Crossland, were life changing. And so I did as you said. “Do something today towards your goal of tomorrow”. I made a dream board as well as exercised and studied. But once again I would like to thank you for your excellent presentation and for what it has truely inspired me to do.” - Student, anonymous

“Thanks you for the talk at Standing Tall 10/11/22, it inspired me to give my all so I can have a great future and believe in myself. Your story was inspiring and helped me see that if I believe in myself and do whatever I can to achieve my dreams then I can live a meaningful life to contribute to the greater good. My dream is to become a sort of medical doctor and find a cure for cancer with no side effects, I believe I can achieve this in my future after the talk that you gave, it has helped me see what is possible when you believe. I also loved the quote, “Live as if life is rigged in your favour.” Thanks again.” - Student, anonymous