Elise Klein

At 23, Elise has attained an Environmental Science Degree, and has recently commenced her honours in this field. In 2005 she returned from Mali, West Africa, where she led a team of young people on a trip to visit a school she was instrumental in raising funds to build and sustain. Elise is the second eldest of four children. She grew up on the Mornington Peninsula and still lives with her close knit family in rural Victoria. Over the past 6 years, she has worked at the edgy Reach Foundation where she facilitates a full range of programs for young people from all walks of life including school workshops, camps, leadership days, as well as the program that originally sparked her interest, Heroes’ Days. Elise has also played a significant role in the development of two new and exciting Reach programs; a ‘girls only’ program called Birdcage, and a program focused on indigenous young women, called Flame. The Mali project also continues, with Elise now raising further funds to increase the school’s intake of orphaned and disadvantaged children and create a secondary school. Elise was selected as Australia's Youth Representative to the UN in 2006.