SRC News

#Congress2018 in the year of student voice!

VicSRC Congress: it prides itself on its student-facilitated, safe and accepting environment. But what’s more, it boasts the opportunity for hundreds of delegates to pitch their ideas, take part in controversial discussions and work on creating change. We were lucky enough to have attended this three-day camp over the semester holidays at Ormond College and what we learnt from this experience are lessons that will stick with us for years to come.

Congress began with your typical introductions but quickly shifted into the Action Market in which a few delegates pitched ideas they were passionate about and the rest of us chose to work on whichever idea we felt was most important to us. The topic we chose to work on was “Changing Language, Changing Attitudes” which targeted the issue of language being used incorrectly among teenagers, more specifically, words of identity used negatively or as insults.  We worked on this issue in our action team throughout Congress, thinking of solutions to pitch at the Open Morning on the final day. But before we got down to business, we were invited to the gala dinner on night two – the dress theme being “One night, four decades” (from the 60s to the 90s). We put together our best retro outfits and danced to the biggest hits of last century.

In between our action team sessions, we also took part in various workshops such as public speaking and creating change. Delegates also had the opportunity to run for executive positions, elections being held on day two. Though none of us ran, it opened our eyes to a great opportunity out there that we may consider taking in later years.

On the final day of congress, all our hard work had paid off; all that planning, debating and cooperating with strangers who had grown to become our friends led up to this. We presented a pitch to our fellow congress members along with stakeholders, including the Minister of Education, James Merlino. We had worked hard to set up a stall which was outside the lecture theatre and decorated it with everything you could imagine: from yellow streamers, to glittery letters hanging above the cut-out of a tree - without a doubt the most creative of the lot. Each pitch lasted approximately four minutes in total and allowed us all to grasp the gist of what each group intended for the VicSRC's future. After each pitch we participated in a poll determining the order of priority and the top five ideas; ours being number two.

Following the cheers and gratitude regarding this election, our time at congress was coming to a close. It was an amazing experience that all of us are so incredibly grateful to have been a part of. The participants were so full of happiness and encouragement and though we had known them for a total of three days, the majority of whom we had barely spoken to, there was an unspoken bond formed. A bond from the fact that we all shared the same passion for the future of our education.

Nalini and Nadia - Year 9