Reaching out for an AVID project at school - a class for determined, goal-oriented students - Lincoln had hoped the Greater Shepparton City councillor would respond positively to the request for an interview.
“AVID helps you with studying, setting up for VCE and university, and our first assignment was to interview a successful person in the area,” Lincoln said.
“We get to do lots of different workshops and learn about notetaking, jobs, local people in the workforce. A lot of kids did their dads, but I thought I'd interview someone in the council.
“I didn't know much about the council, so I went online and had a look at who was in it, and found Greg James who's Indigenous and is really great . . . I've heard of him in the past few years so I thought I'd send him an email.”
Lincoln wrote to Cr James about his AVID class and future ambitions.
Much to his surprise, he received an email from Cr James that evening.
“We got to talking and he told me about how he'd gotten to where he was, what his education was like and how success is - it doesn't matter how smart you are, it's all about motivation,” Lincoln said.
“It was pretty cool . . . I missed his email the first night so I was a bit angry, I thought he might not want to do it now but he was happy to reschedule, and we were on the phone for half an hour.”
Lincoln said it was inspiring Cr James took the time to reach out to young people and take a genuine interest in their goals.
“It was mutual, he was asking me questions, it was great to see,” he said.
“I wrote an assignment about what he told me and how I can link that to university - there's different pathways to get where you want to go.”
One day, Lincoln hopes to go to university and study science and arts, to pursue his love of writing.
“Greg told me he'd switched careers, and his uncle was a big inspiration in his life,” Lincoln said.
“I probably don't want to go into council but I was really interested in how he got to such a high position.”
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