Year 11 The Year 11 Cohort of 2015 has created success in a variety of domains. From the classroom through to debating; from the sporting field through to music and drama productions; the year level has achieved some extraordinary results. A standout for the year was their involvement in Activities Week. The year level had the opportunity to participate in community service at locations such as: Scope, Willowite, Shannon Park, Aged care facilities, ANGAIR, Dogrocks boneseed removal, Vinnies as well as maintenance work at SJC. Through these experiences the students served and represented St Joseph’s extremely well. ACTIVITY WEEK STUDENT ACCOUNTS: A group of Year 11s were assigned to visit SCOPE during our Activities Week. SCOPE is a centre where many disabled people from our community spend their days. They’re there for rehabilitation, as well as for social activities and gatherings. The experience itself was eyeopening. We don’t often think about how the disabled spend their days, or the painful activities they have to go through in order to exercise. Some participants couldn’t speak; others have lost control of parts of their bodies. This was quite confronting to a lot of students because of the challenge of holding a conversation with someone who can’t speak. Throughout the day, we gained a great appreciation for those who chose to spend their days helping those much less fortunate than us. We also developed a confidence that the disabled are being looked after and aren’t simply being ignored; however, it was evident that these centres need more funding, because the participants only deserve the best after what they’ve been through. Daniel Rabbat - 11F Activities week was a bundle of fun, but a highlight for me - and I’m sure many other students - was the aged care facilities we visited throughout Geelong. Bupa Barrabool was a very rewarding place to be in and felt it was our way to give back to the community as we engaged in conversation and games with the residents. It not only gave me a big smile on my face, but it also gave the residents a big smile as well. Our Year 11 boys loved it, and the elderly members of Geelong loved it just as much. Nathan Clark -11D
Whilst on community service during activities week in Term 2, my fellow classmates and I spent a day at Northern Bay Primary School (Hendy Street campus) in Corio. This experience not only gave the primary school students much enjoyment, but it gave us an insight into how primary schools in troubled communities function.The children’s sheer excitement at spending time with some older kids and showing off their colouring skills was an aspect of the day that overwhelmed most of us. Most of the kids were sorry to see us leave and would have gone home with happy memories and been excited for the next day. Oli Darcy - 11B We went to Willowite farm in Anglesea, a sanctuary and rescue shelter for wildlife. Here we learnt about the importance of protecting animals. Pete and Jeannette, the owners, gained valuable help as the boys helped build fences, weeded and fed some of the animals. In all it was a rewarding experience and a highlight of my community service week. Adam Karpinski - 11F During the 2015 activities week, the Year 11 student cohort embarked on community service. This involved a range of activities that benefited the community. One of these activities was to become exposed and educated in disability awareness. During this session, Year 11’s were given certain sports to play under circumstances that would be deemed disabled. This included playing sports blindfolded or limb restrained through rope, to demonstrate the physical challenges that active disabled people endure. Besides learning what people with disabilities had to overcome in activities such as sport, we found in these sessions that they are no less competitive, determined or different to people without a disability. Our guest speaker Richard Colman gave us an insight into what people with a disability can achieve and do, just as well for people without a disability. His story on making the Paraolympics for wheelchair racing and winning gold was a truly inspirational triumph in this seminar. Chad Suphamongkol The students also participated in a Pornography education day and Disability Awareness activities. These activities were somewhat challenging and confronting for some students
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