Hands-on learning helps to give back

SURF Coast Secondary College (SCSC) is giving hands-on learners the chance to give back to the community while developing new skills.

The Hands-On Learning Program is designed to inspire students interested in pursuing a trade, with the program expanding this year to provide an opportunity for the teens to engage with the community.

SCSC student Sebastian Jacka has been involved in the program for the last four years after discovering he was a kinaesthetic learner.

“I’ve been loving it,” he said.

“We have been doing a lot of things to do with plumbing, concreting, gardening and carpentry.”

Since starting the program, Sebastian has been drawn to landscaping and says he enjoys using tools and digging holes.

“In the classroom I can’t really focus,” he said.

“I am so much better being out and using my hands to figure situations out instead of my head, it is much easier.”

In previous years students would complete projects around the school including building compounds, tables and fences, however this year SCSC have put an emphasis on giving back to the community.

For the first task, students visited Torquay resident Joan Yelland’s home to complete jobs around the garden, including weeding, mowing and digging while using various types of equipment.

“It makes me feel amazing, coming here and helping someone out knowing that they had a problem and now it is fixed, and they didn’t need to pay for it or really worry about it,” Sebastian said.

SCSC staff member Adam Micallef said the idea arose from having the students do some cooking for the Salvation Army.

“We could see how much the kids enjoyed giving back to someone else and not just doing stuff for the school because it can get a little bit monotonous.

“If it works so well there, we thought we should be able to give back to people who need it in this community.”

The program engages students from Year 7 up until Year 10 and has already attracted a large waiting list of those wishing to get out and try various trades for one day a week.

“The program is for students who don’t want to be sitting in classroom all day every day and are probably looking to pursue a trade, so this is a lead into apprenticeships or VCAL,” Mr Micallef said.

Following last week’s gardening success, the program will continue to assist the community by getting students to complete a series of trade-related tasks.

“Everyone is saying, ‘yep I feel good about myself’ and the smile Joan has on her face is amazing,” Mr Micallef said.

“It has been an outrageous success – not only a success for the kids, for the school and for the program, but a success for the people that we are actually doing it for.”