Each year, head teacher welfare Jenny Boyle invites to the school Motivational Media, a non-profit organisation from Queensland that travels around Australia giving mutli media presentations on issues that most affect youth to over 550 schools.

The 40 minute presentation is projected onto three screens, making a 13 metre wide film and is clearly aimed at youth, with high energy graphics and sound. Inspirational stories and current popular music are used to good effect to get students thinking.

A new presentation is produced every year, and this year’s is titled ‘Jigsaw’. It uses the jigsaw puzzle as a metaphor for life, a metaphor not lost on many of the students.

Year 12 student Christopher Sheridan said he really liked the jigsaw metaphor and the idea of “seeing the whole picture and working on the puzzle piece by piece”.

“When you fail, you can just give it a different approach after rethinking it,” Chris said.

Fellow year 12 student Elyse Kennedy commented on the importance of finishing the borders of jigsaw puzzles first to enable easier completion. She said she thought of the borders as being school, setting you up for life further on down the track.

The five inspirational stories were compelling and aimed at delivering messages of overcoming difficulties, making good decisions, accepting others and developing self esteem.

Brielle Oxenbridge, year 12, said the message that really resounded with her was to not give up and “don’t listen when people say you can’t do it”.

Christopher and his fellow students Ben Ihlow and Corey Armstrong were sobered by the story of a boy, Sam, who had been left with brain damage after a car accident in which his drunk friend was driving.

The ‘don’t drink and drive’ message touched home for the boys, with Chris being particularly moved by Sam’s mother recounting getting ‘the’ phone call from the hospital.

For Elyse, it was the story of Afghani 2013 Young Australian of the Year Akram Azimi and his depiction of being newly arrived in the country and being bullied at high school that resounded with her.

The year 12 students all agreed that having stories told by people their own age made the messages relatable.