Taylor Adair has had one epic year.
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Just weeks after being named the NSW photography winner for the Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience awards, beating professional photographers in their own game, she was selected as 2020 School Captain for Macksville High School.
To cap off her list of honours over the past 12 months, the young go-getter has just found out she's a 'Special Award' recipient in the Council's Australia Day Awards.
But then Taylor has always been special, not just in 2019.
She's the sort of kid you'd find at the front of the line, ready for anything. In primary school she had as many extra-curricular activities as would fit into the day, but was particularly accomplished at debating and shone in a Tournament of the Minds competition.
High school brought with it the usual teenage drama - Taylor was initially unsure whether she would fit in as she was, and clipped her own wings.
But in 2017 she had an epiphany: "I'm not being myself if I'm not doing what I want to do".
She got rid of toxic friendships and wore her true colours with pride.
After joining the Warrell Creek Rural Fire Brigade as a junior member, she put herself forward to complete the RFS Cadets program at school where her enthusiasm was acknowledged with an award for 'best female'.
Taylor comes from a fine pedigree of volunteer firefighters; her father is a local RFS Group Captain, and her grandfather has the honour of being the longest living member of the CFA in Victoria, at the age of 100.
"I guess I wanted to continue the family line," she said. "Putting on my turnout is an adrenaline rush - it's such a good feeling helping someone."
As soon as she was old enough, she completed her Basic Firefighter's Course, and in December 2018, Taylor was accepted into the Emergency Services' Girls on Fire Camp, where she won the Leadership Award and was published on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald.
She said she'll always remember her first controlled backburn in Valla, which is coincidentally where she snapped the candid photograph of her father in his element which earned her an all expenses-paid trip to Sydney to receive her state photography award, along with an exclusive tour of the RFS Headquarters, and the personal congratulations of the State Commissioner.
"This young lady has achieved so much already in her young life and this will not be the last we hear of her in years to come," Warrell Creek RFS Brigade's Dianne Camm said, who nominated Taylor for the Australia Day award.
Taylor said she was shocked when she received a call from the Council to let her know she'd won - at first worried she was being called for a parking fine she wasn't aware of.
"I can't thank Dianne enough. All these great things just keep happening, and I just feel blessed, completely," she said.
Taylor knows how lucky she is.
"I'm so grateful to have had the opportunities I've had - not everyone gets them," she said.
"And I haven't done any of this myself. I've had help and guidance the whole way.
"But that's the beauty of this country - Australians are hard-core. We just help each other. What the fires have proved is that when bad situations arise, everyone just puts their differences aside and comes together. There's a real spirit of helping."
Taylor is pumped for 2020 and the ride ahead of her as School Captain. And while she knows Year 12 has the potential to be overwhelming, she said it won't stop her from grabbing (nearly) every opportunity with both hands.