Hi my name is Harvey Malibirr and I'm from Ramingining which is East Arnhem Land. And I go to MITS which stands for Melbourne Indigenous Transition School and I am away from my family and I will see my family again soon.

My favourite part was the Melbourne Cricket Ground that Richmond vs Carlton and I was proud and cheerful when Richmond won the game.
When I will go back home and all of my family will see me they will be proud and happy to see me and I will be happy too.
I will finish school at Year 12.
Another favourite part of the term was the Melbourne Museum because we saw the old fashioned stuff and I loved it.
The last thing I have to say is thank you for reading my story and have a good year. Stay strong and stay heathy.

By Harvey Malibirr

If there was a word that could describe this term in one word then I would use it but this term has been crazy, exciting, nerve wracking, fun, awesome and overall amazing. I’ve made new friends that I am really close to now, I've met the AFLW female players that walk us up some afternoons and so many more amazing people.

This term was so fun, MITS is a great opportunity for any Indigenous kid to go to, it lets you get the education that you wouldn’t really get in your community and it lets you

experience new things.

This term we went on camp which was amazing, we went to the museum, we went to the MCG to watch Richmond play, we watched the female AFLW stars play, we get an AFLW star Sarah D'Arcy as a teacher and we’ve had the 7news come in. If I were to keep going you would lose track, we've just done so many amazing things.

On the weekends we get to do so many things like going to bounce, surfing, swimming at new beaches, sailing and so many other cool things.

If you get the chance to go to MITS take it because it would be one of the best things you do, it may be scary moving away from your family at first but just remember that the term will be over soon and that you're doing what's best for you and you're making your family proud.

By Keira Manning

It’s been an awesome Term 1 because we have done some amazing homework and in class we have learnt different ways of doing Maths like split strategy, jump strategy and others. My favourite part of the homework has been the riddles and the Maths.

Every morning in our classroom we read for 20 minutes and do our morning circle. On Tuesdays we always go to our footy training. On Thursday after school at the boarding house it’s gonna always be tech free and that means we get our phones after dinner. Every Friday morning when we walk past Rowena’s cafe we get free cupcakes and when we get them we use our beautiful manners. On weekdays we get our phones until 8:00pm but on weekends we get our phones until 9:00pm.

My favourite part of the term was at Camp Manyung because we went down to the beach and looked at the beautiful sunset and

sunrise. We even did archery, treetops, and giant swings.

I also loved it when we went to watch the Richmond and Carlton game at the MCG.

By Sonny Smiler

So far MITS has been super fun! It was really hard to choose a reflection! But with hard thinking, I came up with one! A reflection of mine while I have been to MITS so far is when we went to Camp Manyung.

Camp Manyung is my reflection because it was super fun! On the first day we got there I was a little frightened from the swing because you could see the swing from where we were staying for the next 3 days and 2 nights. The instructor spoke to us and told us the rules and the things we could do.

After the instructor finished talking we settled in and played for a bit then set off into our groups to the activities. There were only 2 groups, group 1 and group 2. I was in group 2! We first went to the High ropes and not going to lie… The log bit scared me so much! The ziplines weren’t that bad. You would go for 2 laps and then go on a barrel pulled by an instructor and then go down a rope pulley sort of system. One funny thing though... Zach got stuck in the middle of the zipline!

It was then lunch so both groups headed in and ate and played. We then set out back to our activities.

The groups then rotated and it was the giant swing next! I think Leith was first. Can't quite remember. I was very scared to go. So I was one of the last ones. I closed my eyes on the way up and then you had to pull a rope and let yourself drop and swing. I didn’t scream, but I also didn’t really look!

We then went back to the set up we were staying at and just hung out there. Had dinner. Went down to the beach and everyone started dancing! We collected things and just hung out there. We had to go back though. So we went back to our set up and played spotlight!

If you don't know what spotlight is, it's a game. Basically it’s Hide and Seek but with a torch. In the first round I was found maybe 4th or 5th and on the 2nd, I was a log away from Tilly and Alison and they found them mob but not me! I think I was walked past about 8 or 10 times! I was one of the last! We eventually went back and fell asleep.

2nd Day

We woke up. Had breaky. Got ready and set off back into our groups! We went snorkeling first! I was one of the first and in my group I saw a Stingray along with some fish and starfish. We had to eventually go back on land though! IT WAS SO COLD WHEN WE GOT OUT!

I got to chill while the rest of my group went for their turn.

Eventually we switched and went to the raft building! It was fun to do with my group and we did so well that I think our team was unstoppable! Our raft survived longer than group 1’s!

We then did afternoon mini games with group 1! It was fun! I just sat out though! Because the raft building tired me out! I joined in most of the time though! One of the kids found clay and showed me where he found it! (Harvey)

We then went back and relaxed. A few kids went to play Gaga. While I stayed behind and did some art with Mr Jake! I was on my way to finishing my koi painting, but activities started to interfere! We went back down to the beach and relaxed! It was movie night and it was Moana! Sadly I fell asleep and woke up to someone tripping over me (Keira). She didn’t mean it though!

3rd Day

My group went kayaking first while group 1 did a walk. My partner was Serina! Zayne and Luke tried to beat us but we beat them! We even went all the way to the back and came back and beat them!

We had Lunch once we got off and then rotated. I was on the walk talking to Mr Jake having fun and we then soon finished! Had lunch and set off back to the boarding house!

It was one of my favourite things that happened so far. But let's see what happens next term! I made so many friends while I was here and it’s been so fun so far!

By Tenielle McGuire

MITS Family Newsletter 2021

Respect, Courage, Culture & Care

April · 01 Apr 2021

In this issue