HoL Award

 Hands on Learning Cafe Wins National Award!

Congratulations to our Brigidine Hands On Learning (HoL) Cafe students, and our very own Cafe artisan teacher Ms Vanessa Mahoney, who were presented with the Sowinski Community Projects Award at the annual Hands on Learning Conference last week!

Hands on Learning is an initiative from the Save the Children charity and a 54reasons national school program that builds wellbeing, engagement, and attendance by creating opportunities for students to discover their talents and experience success through significant and authentic hands-on projects. 

The award was presented to our Brigidine Campus HoL Cafe Program, in recognition of the purposeful work they do - cooking for staff each week in their pop-up cafe, preparing community care meals and catering for other local events and organisations with a social justice focus, including St Mary's Parish and at Refugee Week.

St Joseph's College was selected over more than 130 other schools across Australia which participate in the program and we are incredibly proud of Ms Mahoney and the students for their hard work and dedication. 

At the event, Ms Mahoney was also presented with a 5 year certificate to acknowledge the contribution she has made to HoL. She started in the program in a supporting role in 2019, and transitioned to artisan teacher this year.

We feel extremely fortunate to have the skill, expertise and knowledge of Ms Mahoney leading our Hands on Learning Cafe program. Not only does she bring extensive industry experience to the role, but she is an incredibly warm, genuine and inclusive teacher who is dearly loved and respected by our students.  

Ms Mahoney is an alumni of St Joseph's College, and has an impressive career in the hospitality sector in both Melbourne and Echuca.

She trained as a chef at iconic Melbourne restaurants Marchetti's Latin and Mecca. 

Following her apprenticeship, she went on to specialise in dessert cheffing, where she worked with renowned Melbourne baker and cookbook author Natalie Paull of Beatrix Bakes. She later returned home to Echuca and worked as a dessert chef at the region's acclaimed and hatted riverside restaurant, Oscar Ws.

Ms Mahoney taught hospitality in the TAFE sector prior to joining us here at St Joseph's College in 2018.