[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] T [/dropcap]he end of the school year for Year 12 students has, unfortunately, become associated with some fairly high-level drinking and partying as part of the traditional “Schoolies” week, but a reader has told us about one Portland school that has turned this tradition on its head.
Bayview College, which overlooks the stunning Portland Bay, will this week run its Schoolies with a Cause program, where Year 12 students will celebrate the end of their secondary schooling not by heading to the closest beach, but by helping out at a secondary school in Vietnam.
Eighteen students have volunteered to spend 10 days in a disadvantaged community and will work on a number of projects including improving playground areas.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] I [/dropcap]t is the third year Schoolies with a Cause has been held by Bayview College, and each year more students are signing up to be a part of a life-changing experience. The trip is subsidised by fundraising held during the year and enthusiastic Year 11 students have already started raising money for their trip in 2014.
There are always a lot of people behind such a successful program, but the two names that kept coming up when we investigated the project were Nicole Reefman, who works as the Public Relations officer at Bayview, and Portland financial adviser Rodney Stone, who has a deep connection with Vietnam through his volunteering stints in the country over the last five years.
We would like to acknowledge the hard work of Nicole and Rodney, in particular, and Bayview College, more broadly, for putting together such a great alternative to “Schoolies”: they are our very worthy Quiet Heroes for the week.
[box] Our Quiet Heroes will each receive a coffee and cake voucher from The Pickled Pelican, 137 Percy St, Portland. Thankyou so much for your support, Pickled Pelican.[/box]
Meet some of our other quiet heroes…
United we stand – Wbool Uniting Church
Gary Webb – Bidding for the arts
Kylie Thulborn – pushing boundaries
It great to see the next generation from us are steering our school students into a life changing experience and for the students to see how well off we are here in Australia. One day when the think they are being hard done by may remember this experience. Great job Nicole & Rod and all others involved.