ELIJAH Ingram is an artist, a seasoned world traveller who has represented Australia abroad, and is on a path to become an engineer in the Australian Army and all before he’s graduated High School.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
With three older brothers, a younger sister and a younger brother, he feels fortunate to be surrounded by such a large loving and caring family.
Elijah remembered dreams of a wide and varied professional career.
“It changed day to day,” Elijah said remembering his early childhood aspirations.
“There were days where I wanted to be a police officer and days where I wanted to go join the circus.”
As with so many, early in life one’s path is varied and the destination not so clearly marked.
Growing older, he heard a voice within that is compelling him to follow in the footsteps of those who have walked before him and serve his country.
Now in his fourth year with the cadets, Elijah is working towards becoming an engineer with the Australian Army.
“For the past three or four years now I’ve been trying to put myself on the path that will help me get there,” he said.
The pace and atmosphere of country life revealed itself when Elijah had the chance to compare it with the hustle and bustle of life in Europe.
He was able to move to Belgium for a year as an exchange student for the Rotary Club and quickly found life in a different part of the world at a much faster pace.
“It was a life changing experience,” he said.
“There were a lot of challenges, language barrier, a lot of people don’t speak English very well so I had to learn french in order to communicate where I was living.”
The experience would leave an impression on Elijah well beyond the exchange of cultures.
He found himself immersed in a nation as it dealt with a terrorist attack that left 32 people dead and over 300 wounded.
“It wasn’t that different to a normal day, but school was cut short that day and we finished at lunch” he said.
“When I got home and had like 20-30 messages asking ‘are you ok?’.
“That was what shocked me about it, thinking afterwards that this had really happened.”
The attack occurred almost 150 kilometers from where Elijah was staying, only an hour on the train.
His return to Leeton was a joyful one and he remembered feeling he was home again when he stepped off the plane in Sydney.
“Even though a part of me is still over in Europe and I still call that place home it felt good to be back here,” he said.
He feels that no matter where his interests take him, his heart lies in Leeton.
