Service Learning News Whitsunday Anglican School
Imagine your future. Imagine theirs. Semester One 2012
Service Learning at Whitsunday Anglican School “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.� - Mahatma Gandhi
www.was.qld.edu.au t: (07) 49692000 e: service@was.qld.edu.au
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Principal's Message
Service Learning Co-ordinator
I am proud and excited to be writing in Whitsunday Anglican School’s first Service Learning newsletter. Service Learning is about providing our students with opportunities and experiences, both within and beyond our formal curriculum, to understand and empathise with the plight of those whose lives are less fortunate than ours. More importantly, it provides our students with the opportunity to make a difference!
Welcome to the first edition of Service Learning News. The aim of this publication is to highlight the many wonderful achievements by our School community in the area of Service-Learning.
The rationale for Service Learning at WAS is underpinned by our Core Values, especially, in this instance, our value of Christianity through Social Responsibility. It is through this value that we seek to inculcate in our students a faith in God, a sense of forgiveness and reconciliation and to develop in them a sense of mission or purpose through service to, and compassion and care for, others. Service Learning at WAS has a long and honourable history. Under the guidance of Mr Matt Hodge as the Service Learning Co-ordinator, we are seeking to more explicitly define and promote this area of our operations. I congratulate Mr Hodge on the work he has done so far and look forward to where he will take us in the future.
Running to Make a Difference During Term One, some of our students had the opportunity to listen to a talk by Brad Carron-Arthur. Brad was having a pit stop on his 5000 km journey from Canberra to Cape Yo r k . A l o n g w i t h having an amazing experience, Brad was also running to raise awareness and donations for AFFIRM: The Australian Foundation for Mental Health Research. He managed to collect donations to the total of $22,149 throughout his trip. Brad’s inspirational story highlights the fact that we all can take on the challenge to make a difference in the lives of others.
I thank the WAS community, for your support of our efforts in this area, and look forward to continuing to work together to achieve these worthwhile and noble things.
Our inspirational story of helping others is being led by all of our students. Their energy and desire to lend a helping hand and to give generously should be congratulated.
AJ Greer Principal
Matt Hodge Service Learning Co-ordinator
Blood Drive Kicks Off Congratulations to all those who have already donated blood to the Mackay Blood Bank. This year WAS has donated fourteen times which leads to the total of 48 lives saved! The target for this year is 70 blood donations which will beat last year’s grand total of 65 donations. In order to achieve this we have established a roster system which enables Year 11 and 12 students the opportunity to donate during their Pastoral Access lessons. Kelly Hoy & Connor Herron School Service Captains Whitsunday Anglican School
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Service Learning Day (St George) Our Service Learning Day during Term One focused on the small community of St George, some 900km to the south west of Mackay. St George and other surrounding towns were severely impacted by the floods of 2010, 2011 and again in February 2012. The days leading up to the floods were frightening for the 3000 residents who call the town home as they faced a 14m flood which would have wiped out the en9re town. Almost 95% of the town was evacuated, resul9ng in the biggest evacua9on effort in Queensland history. Almost 60 homes were inundated with flood water. Our Blue Day raised money for the residents of the local nursing home, Warrawee Re9rement Village. The 35 residents were amongst the first to be evacuated, and given that the water was over a metre deep throughout the property, it may be some 9me before they are able to return. Residents are s9ll in temporary accommoda9on in Brisbane and the Gold Coast and it may take six months or more for the repairs to be completed. Our dona9ons and cake stall raised almost $1400 which was used to purchase some lible things like soaps, knicng needles and playing cards, that the residents might like to have with them when they return to Warrawee. Miss Cutler delivered the 35 care packages and a $500 cheque to St George, her home town. We wish the residents of Warrawee the best of luck on their return.
Service Learning Day (Vietnam & Cambodia) Each year our Service Learning Day in Term Two is our strongest effort in suppor9ng our Interna9onal expedi9on groups. The money raised on the Service Learning Day this term was to go towards our Vietnam & Cambodia Expedi1on group. The goal was to raise $1600 to go towards paying for a year’s schooling for 287 students in Cambodia. Another component of our Term Two Service Learning Day is the Senior School Leadership Forum (SSLF) Picnic. The SSLF Picnic is where all Senior and Middle School students come together on the oval for some games, food, music and a good 9me. The Vietnam & Cambodia Expedi9on group worked very hard to provide ways for the $1600 target to be reached. They provided a bake stall and BBQ at both breaks. The group also sold conical hats for the week leading up to the day. These hats were very popular and added an addi9onal flavour to the day. Face pain9ng was also offered to students throughout the day, along with the ZUMBA session that was wonderfully lead by Mrs Allen. As a community we raised $2359.50. This is an amazing amount and will go a long way towards assis9ng the students in Cambodia. Thank you very much to all the students and staff members who helped out throughout the day.
Whitsunday Anglican School
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Service Learning in the Junior School The Junior School students, families and staff have continued to support a wide range of charities and worthy causes throughout Semester One. The Kindergarten and Preparatory cohorts hold their ‘Market Afternoons’ once a term raising funds for Joana, a World Vision recipient. This fundraising by the youngest of our students has been an ongoing project for the past ten years and receives magnificent support from Kindergarten and Preparatory parents in preparing and providing a range of goodies that are eagerly purchased by Junior School students. The Junior School students and staff provide tremendous support for the Service Learning Days with their gold coin (and more at times) donations throughout the semester and are appreciative of the ‘fun’ aspects to the day with face painting and interactions with the School Captains and Year 12 students. The Junior School staff are also involved in the support of four children through the ChildFund program. However, the outstanding aspect of Junior School ‘Service’ as such has been set by two of our Year 3 students. Emmett Withers, a passionate long-time supporter of the RSPCA, has taken it upon himself to encourage the Whitsunday Anglican School community to get behind the RSPCA Millions Paws Walk Charity drive to be held this term. Emmett and a few classmates have been around to the sub-Schools handing out sponsorship forms and challenging students to become involved. This isn’t Emmett’s only support of all things RSPCA as he facilitates the Junior School’s Christmas for Pets drive at the end of the year. A peer of Emmett’s, Jayde McCarthy, is also another socially conscientious Year 3 student. In the Year of Reading Jayde has made contact with the Let’s Read program and asked how she could help. The outcome will be a book drive across the School’s community to collect appropriate books and texts for younger disadvantaged readers in the Mackay area. Jayde has prepared a piece for the School newsletter outlining the collection dates. She has arranged for presentation of the books to a representative from the Let’s Read program to occur at a Junior School assembly later this term.
Middle School Service Learning Energy, Enthusiasm, Enterprise! Middle School Tutor Groups and the Character Counts Council have raised over $1800.00 in Semester One. The fundraising initiatives support our four World Vision Children with their health and education needs. In addition we have also supported Emmett Withers in Year 4 in his quest to support the RSPCA through the Million Paws Walk. Year 7 and 8 students are also actively involved in Prep duty and sport equipment borrowing during the breaks. This week our Year 5 students have organised a talent quest and there is no doubt that competition will be closely contested. Thirty Year 8 students took up the challenge of supporting the Relay for Life, raising the highest total of $2611.00 since our involvement. Many students have volunteered their expertise for t h e u p c o m i n g M i d d l e S c h o o l 1 0th Anniversary Celebrations and bush-dance evening as sound crew, waiters, decorators and tour guides and I am always impressed at the willingness of students to volunteer so readily to assist in so many ways. Our young leaders of tomorrow really do make a difference today!
Karen Owens Head of Middle School
Mick Martin Head of Junior School
Whitsunday Anglican School
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Interact Interact Club includes students from Year 9-12 who are passionate about making a difference in their local community . As is tradition, Interact was host to the Valentine’s Day campaign which spread the love throughout Whitsunday Anglican School. Interactors slaved away to ensure the day was a success and the combination of a cake sale, chocolates, lollipops and the always hilarious serenades guaranteed that a great day was had by all. The WAS Interactors then also offered their services at the Moving Opera Workshop Performance, raising $300 which was donated directly to the Vietnam and Cambodia Service Learning Trip. T h r o u g h o u t t h e fi r s t semester a selection of Interactors have given up their Sunday mornings to assist at the Mackay North Rotary Club Food Van at the Troppo Markets and the efforts of Rachel Sharp, Hannah Smith, Jessica Fleming, Emily Fleming and Samin Sekander have enabled the ties between our Interact Club and our sponsor club, Mackay North Rotary Club, to become even stronger. The Interact Quiz Night made a highly successful comeback this year with eight teams vying for the chance to be titled ‘Champions’. All members of Interact collaborated together to allow the night to run smoothly and their efforts this year are to be commended as the Club has raised over $1200 for local charities so far. Interact has had a thriving start to the year and we hope to continue this for the remainder of 2012.
Supported Charities Here is a list of some of the charities and organisations that the Whitsunday Anglican School Community have assisted in the past: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Anglicare Mackay Blue Care CQ Rescue Anglican Board of Mission Australia (ABMA) Meals on Wheels World Vision Heart Foundation Cystic Fibrosis RSPCA Red Cross Blood Service Mackay Base Hospital Foundation (Children’s Ward) Queensland Cancer Council Angel Flight Warrawee Retirement Village (St George) Fred Hollows Foundation Australian Literacy & Numeracy Foundation Child Fund Mackay District Special School
Like us on Facebook For further Service Learning photos and news why not like our School Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/ WhitsundayAnglicanSchool
Emily Fleming Interact President Whitsunday Anglican School
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Relay for Life Relay For Life is an incredible overnight event that is an opportunity for our students to get together with the community and celebrate cancer survivors, remember loved ones lost to cancer, and fight back against the disease by raising important funds. This year 79 students from Years 8-12 signed on to participate at the Mackay Relay for Life event. As a group, $8055 was raised to go to the Queensland Cancer Council. This is a tremendous effort by this group of students Unfortunately poor weather prevented us joining in on the Relay; however, the younger students are looking forward to participating in the event next year. Thank you to the members of staff and parents who signed on to assist with supervision and to provide us with food on the night. We know that the students appreciate your support. Good luck to the students who will pick up the baton next year to help fight the fight against cancer.
Sylvie Giguere & Subarna Raut School Vice Captains
Service Learning Expedition Sign Post This year the Senior School Leadership Forum (SSLF) has taken on the project of establishing a new form of recognition for the Service Learning expeditions that have occurred over the past few years. The group has purchased a sign post that is located next to the Mienert Centre. Each blade has the expedition location and the year of travel. Mr Salmon (Head of Humanities and Business) assisted in ensuring that each blade is pointing to the Service Learning Expeditions exact direction of the location. 2005 Jim Hill MS, North Dakota This project is a wonderful way to permanently acknowledge the expeditions of the past and the new adventures that will occur in the future.
2008
Jim Hill MS, North Dakota
2011
Jim Hill MS, North Dakota
2011
Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
2012
Vietnam & Cambodia
Matt Hodge SSLF Mentor Whitsunday Anglican School
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Vietnam and Cambodia Expedition On 17th June, an enthusiastic group of thirty six intrepid adventurers – students, staff and parents will be travelling to Vietnam and Cambodia to undertake several service projects. Beginning in Vietnam, we will enjoy a thorough exploration of bustling Ho Chi Minh City, the war tunnels of Cu Chi and journey to the Mekong Delta for a special service-learning building project: the construction of not one but TWO houses designed to assist impoverished local families. We will also be visiting one of the local orphanages where the provision of rice and blankets for the children has been high on our fundraising agenda. We will then travel overland to Cambodia and explore Phnom Penh's Khmer Rouge sites and then onto Siem Reap; home to the magnificent Temples of Angkor. The tour includes a visit to local villages where, over the years, WAS has been involved in a wells construction project. We will see, firsthand, how these efforts have improved the lives of the local villages. Whilst here, we will be involved in the pouring of the concrete slabs to begin the building of another two sponsored wells. At the start of our Tour planning, we made the commitment to sponsor 287 children in a local Cambodian school. Our fundraising efforts, to date, will ensure that every child will have the opportunity to remain in school for the entire school year. Whilst at the school our Tour group will be engaged in the painting of several of the classrooms! Our Service Learning Expedition to Vietnam and Cambodia promises a roller coaster of emotions and experiences. Most importantly, the Expeditions’s objectives are designed to focus on service to others in both countries. We are excited and committed to our service goals to assist our Vietnamese and Cambodian neighbours. As our Expedition shirts state, “We Are Service”. We will be wearing these shirts proudly and our actions will be speaking louder than any words.
Debra Toohey Trip Co-‐ordinator
2013 MT KILIMANJARO EXPEDITION As part of Whitsunday Anglican School’s Service Learning program, the School is planning to summit Mt Kilimanjaro again in 2013. Following the success of the expedition in 2011, the plan will remain the same with the group departing at the start of the June vacation, travelling to Kenya for a safari, then on to Tanzania for a week of climbing, before heading back to Australia. The entire trip takes approximately thirteen days and is fully guided including porters to carry gear and cooks for the meals. This “personal challenge” expedition is open to students who will be in Year 11 or 12 in 2013. Parents and families are welcome to accompany the group and this notion became the basis of the trip in 2011 with every student having either their Dad or Mum take on the challenge alongside them. As a rough guide, the cost for the trip is about $5000 per person but this includes all flights, accommodation, transfers, and almost all meals. Further information will be available in Term 3 in the form of information brochures and parent information evenings.
Whitsunday Anglican School
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Photo Board
Key Service Learning
16-26 June Vietnam &
Dates
Cambodia Service Learn ing
8 August Service Learn 26 October Service Le
ing Day (Surf Lifesaving)
arning Day (Mackay RSPC
1 November JS Anglic
Expedition
A)
are Hampers, Giving Tre
16 November Year 12
Celeber Drive, Beaconsfield Qld 4740 Po Box 3390, North Mackay Qld 4740
www.was.qld.edu.au t: (07) 49692000
e & RSPCA Appeal
Group Blood Donation
Whitsunday Anglican School