![Bournda EEC Principal Doug Reckord with Ashton Johnson at the assembly. Image supplied. Bournda EEC Principal Doug Reckord with Ashton Johnson at the assembly. Image supplied.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/z8hBhxAZcc6GAanbqacDHK/03cfbf89-525b-44dc-b3e7-a694b180a9bb.jpg/r0_0_843_1124_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Something unexpected happened to Ashton Johnson recently.
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So Ashton, in his role as the outgoing Ulladulla High School captain, was getting ready for a school assembly when he got a surprise.
Ashton received the Bournda Environmental Centre Future Leaders Environmental Award and got the acknowledgment at the assembly he was helping to run.
"It was something I was not expecting at all," he said.
Ashton had participated in the School Environment Committee, supporting post-fire revegetation projects and recycling programs.
He set up 'Project Ozone' to combat air pollution through growing plants in repurposed objects and to provide support for reforestation programs.
The idea for 'Project Ozone' came to Ashton last year at the South Coast Youth Leadership Forum.
Ashton, at the three-day camp with school leaders around the region, discussed issues they saw in society and things the group would like to change or improve.
His passion is flying airplanes and he decided to build a project with that in mind and focus on the environmental aspect.
"Obviously, we are still using a lot of fossil fuels for transportation and although I didn't have the skills or knowledge to design a plane that runs off renewable energy. I decided to do something to at least minimise the impact," he said
"The award is for initiative and leadership regarding the environment.
"I got nominated for it by the school and Principal of Ulladulla High Mrs Lofts wrote the reference and she talked a lot about some of the broader school projects such as recycling and post-fire regeneration projects and more."
Ashton said the main thing that he did was set up 'Project Ozone'.
Following the camp, Ashton continued developing his idea through the Changemakers Program run by Sonder Youth.
His idea had several main aims:
- to educate people about air pollution,
- grow plants in repurposed objects (saving items from landfill and offsetting carbon emissions), and
- sell shirts in a not-for-profit scheme where every shirt sold enabled me to purchase one tree in a reforestation program.
"The whole focus of the project wasn't to change the world, but to show that we can all do little things to minimise our impact and that big differences can be made by a lot of small actions," he said.
The soon to be 18-year-year-old achieved what he wanted to achieve with the project and it's an issue he remains positive about.
However, he now has to focus on the HCS trial which recently commenced.
Ashton is heading towards a career in the aviation industry.
His first solo flight was as a 15-year-old and he got his pilot license when he was 16-years.
"Absolutely," Ashton said when asked if he could fly a plane before he could legally drive a car.