Young Achiever Awards (YAA), Case Study

Building the Next Generation of Leaders Before It Was a Hashtag

Long before “future of work” was a keynote theme, Morris was helping shape it from the ground up.

As part of his long-standing teaching and consulting work with Holmesglen TAFE, Morris became a mentor and advisor to student teams participating in the Young Achiever Awards (YAA) — one of Australia’s most respected youth enterprise and leadership programs.

His teams didn’t just show up. They won — twice. Back-to-back.

Over two years (1998–2000), Morris coached his students weekly guiding them from raw ideas to validated business models, pitching prototypes, raising funds, and running real-world enterprises that earned profit and delivered social impact. After expenses, his team reinvested earnings into YAA charities — proving that ethics, ambition, and enterprise could co-exist.

His mentorship led to:

• Holmesglen’s first-ever wins at YAA

• Dozens of students mentored in startup thinking

• Real ventures launched before entrepreneurship was trendy

• And Morris himself receiving awards for his role in transforming the educational experience into future-building outcomes

Shift: From theoretical learning to leadership-in-action years before startup culture hit mainstream education.

The result?: An enduring legacy that helped redefine how vocational students could think, act, and lead with ripples that continue today across education and early-stage entrepreneurial ecosystems.