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Sydney strips down for AIME charity swimwear parade
by Alison Dunn 16 December 2013 Hundreds of swimwear-clad revellers took to Martin Place on Friday for the fifth annual Strut the Streets. The charity swimwear parade raises money for the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) to run its program around Australia and see every Indigenous kid finish school at the same rate as every Australian child. Daryl Braithwaite performed signature tracks, The Horses and One Summer. Australia’s Got Talent runner up, Dean Brady, and Triple J Unearthed National Indigenous Music Award (NIMA) artist and AIME Program Manager, Robbie Miller, also performed to Martin Place crowds.
AIME CEO Jack Manning Bancroft, second from left, with Wendell Sailor (far left) and some friends in the AIME charity swimwear parade. All images supplied
Wallabies player Kurtley Beale and his Waratahs teammate, Pat McCutcheon, have pledged to march through Martin Place, undaunted by the fact that they were doing so in nothing but fluoro Budgy Smugglers. DJs Danny Clayton, Shantan Wantan Ichiban and The Faders played for parade participants at an exclusive after party at Ivy Pool Club. Tourism Australia CEO Andrew McEvoy called on Sydneysiders and tourists to don swimwear and support the cause. “I really encourage Sydneysiders and our international visitors alike to get down to their swimmers, have some fun and strut Sydney’s streets in style. It’s such a
memorable way for people to experience Sydney and raise awareness for an important cause,” Mr McEvoy said. AIME CEO Jack Manning Bancroft said the event has grown from small beginnings. “This is the fifth year that we’ve run Strut the Streets and we’re aiming to raise $200K for AIME to help us on our path to engage 10,000 Indigenous high school students annually across Australia by 2018, with every participant finishing school at the same rate as every Australian child,” Mr Manning Bancroft said. “Strut the Streets gives us a chance to not take ourselves too seriously, have some fun and celebrate good times.” AIME was founded in 2005
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with the goal to see Indigenous educational equality. Over the last four consecutive years, AIME students have finished school at almost the same rate as every
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Australian child. In 2012, the year 9 to university progression rate for AIME students was 22.1 percent – nearly six times the national Indigenous average of 3.8 percent
and approaching the national nonIndigenous average of 36.8 percent. AIME plans to reach 10,000 students annually across Australia by 2018.