THE BIG FREEZE

On Friday 14th June, Year 11 and 12 VM students held an event to raise awareness for MND. MND stands for Motor Neurone Disease, and it kills off the nerves around the muscles so people can’t move around, speak, swallow or breathe and they eventually die. There is no cure and no treatment. We know about MND in Australia thanks to Neil Daniher, a past great footballer who has the disease and started the big freeze at the MCG 10 years ago after he was diagnosed, but he is the exception, not the rule, as most people with MND live just over 2 years. It can affect any age, any sex and comes on quickly.

After many weeks of planning, we did the Seymour College version of the Big Freeze, because raising money for MND was important to some of the VM students. The students approached staff and asked them to be involved, they told the students about it, organised the advertising, wrote the profiles about the teachers who were participating, and released the information on Seymour College’s social media each day for 2 weeks leading up to the event; we did as much promotion as we could. We set up the Dunk Tank (which was donated) and completed a risk assessment, as well as organised the BBQ.

Before the event, people could donate via the link and if they nominated a staff member, each dollar they donated went to a tally and the leading teacher got an extra punishment. On the day, students were encouraged to come out of uniform and donate a gold coin which got them a sausage and a vote. While our dunkees got ready two VM students, Jhett Wyatt and Ryan Mumford, along with wellbeing staff member Lloyd Taylor played music.

The first to be dunked was the teacher with the most student votes on the day – Mr Watson! He was a great sport and showed everyone how cold it actually was. Then in order of votes, the teachers continued, Ms Hayek, Mr Garner, Ms Kearney, Ms Gao, Mr Rilen, Mr Tarran, Mr Rimes and the winner with the most amount of donations was Ms Wright, who we were super happy to have involved because she is an ex Seymour College student who is now a teacher in Inclusive Ed and a great sport as she had whipped cream and sprinkles dumped on her before and after she went into the tank.

It was amazing to see the school community come together. From all the help and support at the school behind the scenes, the amazing people who donated, the students who voted and came to watch and cheer, and our fabulous staff who not only keenly got involved, but they played their part more than we could have hoped for by definitely putting on a show. We raised $1650 which we are overwhelmed by and excited with and which will do a lot to support people with MND help find some kind of treatment and look towards a cure.

A reflection by Year 11 VM student – Jacob Sterio

‘We each had jobs to do and I went around to multiple classrooms to let students and teachers know about the event. So many students were there to watch as the teachers got dunked. Everyone was keen and had a good time. Our work and efforts were worth it because it was a huge success’.

A reflection by Year 11 VM student – Charlie D’Orria

‘After we set up the dunk tank and the BBQ, my job was security. Another student made us vests with ‘security’ written on it and it was our job to make sure that everyone was safe around the dunk tank. The whole school surrounded the basketball court to watch the teachers get dunked into the ice-cold water and everyone was having a great time’.

A reflection by Year 11 VM student – Jhett Wyatt

‘I had a big job on the day. I helped set up and led the school band; we played 4 songs. l was also commentating and interviewing when the teachers were getting dunked. It was a very good day, and everyone loved it, and I can’t wait to do it again next year’.

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