Karis is a Humanities, Visual Arts and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies teacher as well as also being the school’s Indigenous Education Worker (identified). She is a proud Dunghutti woman whose ancestral history is marred by the impacts of colonial oppression and institutionalised racism. It is also through her own personal experiences that she has been motivated to work in Indigenous education in the hopes that she may be able to provide young people with the support and opportunities that were not afforded to her. She works with her school’s cohort of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to support them in accessing and celebrating their cultural heritage as well as improving their attendance and academic results. In her time as teacher and Indigenous Education Worker, she has attended a number of professional development opportunities to evolve her practice and upskill fellow staff, the most notable of which was her attendance and participation in the 2018 Annual Indigenous Education Forum in Perth. She then went on to implement, deliver and lead workshops teaching others about Aboriginal pedagogical frameworks and their links to the Art and Science of Teaching (ASoT), formalised her school’s participation in cultural competency training and regularly model to other teachers the ways in which to embed Indigenous perspectives into the curriculum and classroom. She has innovated the school’s annual NAIDOC celebrations by catering them to the theme and the local community. Karis believes Indigenous ambassadors are the faces of our annual celebrations and share their pride, knowledge and family histories with all who attend. This has become one of the highlights of the school's calendar year. In 2017, she was fortunate enough to work alongside local Aboriginal traditional custodians and develop a term-long unit in Year 7 Humanities, which taught the history, geography, language and connections of the Kombumerri people of the Yugambeh language nation. Decisions to develop this unit was in response to the lack of in-depth local cultural education recognised in students. This unit is now in its third year and has proven to be very successful in providing meaningful engagement of all students involved. It was also in 2017 that Karis was named Miami State High’s “Teacher of the Year”. It is through her passion and commitment to students and their educational outcomes that she is able prove herself as a forward-thinking, relevant and responsive educational leader. It is her belief that as both educators and members of the community, we have an obligation to empower those around us. She develops plans to address gaps within education as well as the experiences of Indigenous students, thereby ensuring the greatest possible outcomes for students and broader school community.