Rossmoyne Senior High School student Mehr entered a geography competition “for fun”, not expecting her work on food security to come out on top.
The Year 9 student was left speechless when she learnt she had won first place in her year group in the 2026 Geographical Association of Western Australia (GAWA) Young Geographer of the Year Competition.
“My first reaction when I had found out I won was shock, I was kind of speechless at first and not knowing what to say,” Mehr said.
“I was also obviously happy about the fact that I won but I was also shocked, because I entered for fun and not for winning purposes.”
Mehr was the only public-school student to win a year-level award in this year’s competition and is the first Rossmoyne Senior High School student to win the Young Geographer of the Year Competition.
The long-running GAWA competition awards first place to the best judged student entry at each year level.
Mehr’s entry focused on food security in Australia and explored an issue she said was more common locally than many people might realise.
“I learnt that food security is not just related to the amount of food being produced but also that people need to be able to afford it and physically access it,” she said.
“One thing that surprised me is that food insecurity is very common in Australia, more common than you think,” she said.
Through her research, Mehr also looked at factors that can contribute to food insecurity, including the cost of living and climate change.
She wanted her project to show that food security was not limited to developing countries.
“The main issue I wanted to spread was the fact that numerous people still experience food insecurity and it is not just something third world countries experience but also people here in Australia experience, either by not being able to afford or access it,” she said.
Mehr presented her entry as a video, combining her research with statistics and clips.
Editing was both her favourite and most challenging part of the project.
“The part I enjoyed most was probably the editing aspect of my video as it is something I’m interested in,” she said.
“Furthermore, the part I found most challenging was also the editing component of getting all my clips and stats all good and neat on the video was very tedious.
“However, I would say the research was also a bit time-consuming.”
The project also changed Mehr’s opinion of geography, a subject she admitted she had not previously found particularly interesting.
“This project has changed the way I think about geography as a subject, as I used to not be interested in geography,” she said.
“However, this perspective has changed because I have learnt geography is more than just hills and tectonic plates and what not but can have massive impacts on the world (such as food security).”
Rossmoyne Senior High School senior geography teacher Michael Bartosiak said the school encouraged students to take their learning outside regular classroom activities through competitions, fieldwork, excursions and guest speakers.
“We aim to build a strong culture of Geography at Rossmoyne where students are encouraged to be curious about the world, think independently and apply their learning to real-world issues,” he said.
“Mehr’s achievement is a wonderful example of what students can accomplish when they take advantage of these opportunities and extend themselves beyond their regular classroom learning.”
