76. Zac Ray

Zac Ray tells me that passion is contagious.

And listening to him talk about his long list of passions, proves this statement to be true.

The 16 year-old is an on-shore volunteer for Sea Shepherd, a non-profit organisation working to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans.

He said he was blown away by the idea of the organisation after first being introduced to it.

“My god mother told me about it, and I looked it up and thought it looked really cool, so went to a presentation by one of the Sea Shepherd volunteers,” he said.

“After it, I went and spoke to the volunteer, and was amazed, so signed up straight away.”

He said one thing that impressed him a lot was how proactive the organisation is.

“They’re actually out there doing something, not just talking about it,” he said.

“Listening to the stories of the crew members pulling out nets from the ocean with dolphins and turtles in them, it was just so confronting.”
He said despite his initial eagerness, life got in the way and he was unable to get straight into it.

“I played footy for four teams at the time, so really didn’t have time for it, but at the start of this year I got cut from two of those teams, and that’s probably the best thing that’s ever happened,” he said.

As an on-shore volunteer, Zac helps raise money for the organisation by working at stalls selling merchandise.

He also helps run boat tours for the public, on as many Sundays as he can.

He is currently in year 10 at Parade College, but said he has no issue volunteering on weekends, because he “loves it”.

Zac said this passion was one he never knew he had, although he has always loved the environment, and being in the outdoors.

He also loves animals, and for this reason became a vegetarian.

“My sister is a vegetarian, and pretty much a vegan now, so that’s had a bit of an influence,” he said.

“I got my wisdom teeth taken out, and was on the couch for about a week, so just spent that time watching documentaries about animal welfare, and after it, I was like ‘holy crap, what are we doing?’

“Then one day I was at work eating a vegetarian focaccia, and my manager asked if I was a vegetarian, and I said that I wasn’t yet, and he said ‘well if you haven’t eaten meat today, why not start today?’, and so I did.”

And his activism work extends far beyond the ocean and dinner table, he is working to engage his fellow students about issues that are important to him.

“I started talking to my teachers about my passions, and started a campaign at school to help eliminate plastic waste in oceans by providing recycling bins for soft plastics,” he said.

“I also organised for Sea Shepherd to come in and do two presentations, and they were really popular, we had over 200 students voluntarily attend both.”

He also attended a Climate Justice Summit, run by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, with other high school students, which he said was a great opportunity to meet likeminded young people.

Zac said he has really changed his personal outlook this year.

“Before this year, I thought about things too much, I always wanted to do something, but didn’t know what I wanted to do,” he said.

“This year, I realised I had to stop trying to be like everyone else, and just be myself.

“It changed my whole perception of life, you’ve just got to put yourself out there and do things.”

He said he plans to continue his volunteer work with the organisation.

“I want to become a crew member on Sea Shepherd, but they get 5,000 applications a year for it, so it’s not easy to be accepted,” he said.

When asked how he would pitch himself so he stood out from the rest, he said he hoped his passion would get him over the line.

“I have volunteered for almost a year now, so I really hope my commitment and passion stand out,” he said.

While doing this, he also hopes to pursue a career as an outdoor education leader, which is his end goal.

“I did a trip with World Challenge recently, they’re a company who run trips with schools,” he said.

“Our group did a four week trek in four countries, Thailand, Laos, China and Vietnam, and worked on a cultural project.”

He said the leaders of these groups are who he wants to become.

“The leader on my year 9 camp was amazing too, after it I was like ‘I want to do that’,” he said.

Words: Joely Mitchell

Photo: Sean Porter