SURF Coast Secondary College (SCSC) is giving hands-on learners the chance to give back to the community while developing new skills.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
SCSC student Sebastian Jacka has been involved in the program for the last four years after discovering he was a kinaesthetic learner.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been loving it,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We have been doing a lot of things to do with plumbing, concreting, gardening and carpentry.”<\/p>\n
Since starting the program, Sebastian has been drawn to landscaping and says he enjoys using tools and digging holes.<\/p>\n
“In the classroom I can’t really focus,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I am so much better being out and using my hands to figure situations out instead of my head, it is much easier.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
SCSC staff member Adam Micallef said the idea arose from having the students do some cooking for the Salvation Army.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“If it works so well there, we thought we should be able to give back to people who need it in this community.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“Everyone is saying, ‘yep I feel good about myself’ and the smile Joan has on her face is amazing,” Mr Micallef said.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 […]<\/p>\n