Stories

A Rewarding Journey That Took Effort

Luke Summers learnt how to Make Things Happen and stop procrastinating as a Young Adult in the Max Potential program

“I’m sure you’ve all heard of the saying, It’s not the destination that matters, it’s the journey.” 

This was how sixteen-year-old Luke Summers from Magdalene Catholic High School began his speech to more than 150 attendees at the Macarthur Max Potential Showcase at Campbelltown Catholic Club.

People were there to help celebrate the accomplishments of the 24 young adults and 23 community coaches who had been a part of the program.

Luke brought perspective for his fellow graduates with this simple reminder:

“Sure we graduate today, may get an award and have the opportunity to show off our good work, but it’s that good work we did, and the things that happened as we did it, that matter”.

Luke shared that he always had an issue with procrastination and being unmotivated – smart phones are very tempting!! With this in mind, throughout his Max Potential journey, Luke focussed on the life principle of ‘Make Things Happen’. Through the use of this universal principle and its tools, he was able to see work as a series of small steps and that to achieve success he needed to make a plan and stick to it.

“It is astounding how good it feels when you can just put some distraction away and get working,” said Luke. “The problem is it can just be so hard. But no one ever achieved anything significant without effort, and Max Potential has given me the tools to find this effort more regularly.”

Helping Luke to discover this was his community coach, Sal Provino, a Staff Trainer at the Campbelltown Catholic Club (major sponsor of Macarthur Max Potential). Luke explained that without the guidance and unwavering support of his coach, finding the path to success would have been much harder.

He credits Sal with helping him to be aware of his choices and encouraging him when he improved his leadership and planning skills. He said Sal repeatedly told him, “It was all you, it was your leadership that did this: you did this”.

Luke’s Community Service Project was the ‘Homeless High School Challenge’ and involved collecting items such as food, hygiene products and clothing to assist The Shining Stars Foundation in caring for the 70 homeless people in the Macarthur area.

While at times he felt tempted to give up, with the support of Sal and Dee Raquel Joma (Max Potential Program Manager), Luke believes, “the benefits from participating in this program make the effort completely worthwhile”.

“I would not only recommend but beg other students to participate in this program, because the skills and mindsets you learn will truly help you develop and improve the people and communities around you.”

Don’t procrastinate, apply today!!