Community Engagement Program

Over the last week of Term 2, 78 Year 9 students participated in Frankston High School’s Community Engagement Program. Students volunteered their time at The Briars, Overport Primary School and Ebdale Community Centre.

Thank you to Impact Volunteering who helped coordinate this experience, as well as the following staff who gave up with their time to support our students, Ms Elizabeth Pearce, Mr Lachlan Whitley, Mr James Sadler, Mrs Sheryn Bednarz and Mr Sam Rowe.  For anyone interested in volunteering, check out http://www.impactvolunteering.org.au/ for more information.

By Lauren Costanzo,

Acting Director of Student Leadership & Community Engagement and

Suzanne Caldwell, Assistant Principal

Please read students reflections about their experiences below.

Ebdale Community Centre

Having the opportunity to go to Ebdale Community Centre in Frankston to help out as a volunteer was a great opportunity and success.  My group, accompanied by a teacher, made our way by foot down to the centre and helped out by painting the fence just outside the building.

The weather had predicted to be harsh but luckily all turned out fine as we continued on with the work from last year's volunteers from Frankston High School.  We retouched the fence with bright colours and added our own designs of birds, giving the whole fence a brand new perspective.  It was a long day of hard work but also a very enjoyable experience as I interacted with a lot of new friends and had fun working while listening to music. Everyone down at the centre were exceedingly nice and eager for us to help.  They were all very thankful for our work and overall it felt great to know that we had had left a smile on everyone's faces, whilst giving back to the community. 

By Elodie Ricaud, Year 9

We walked to Ebdale community centre on Thursday 23 June. When we arrived we were met with some wonderful people that got us set up to start painting. We painted a mural onto the fences and the finished product looked amazing.  All of the people involved worked really hard to finish the fence and make it look really good.  We made new friends, we had an incredibly fun day and felt content giving back to the community.

By Ruby Whiteman and Liam Wilkinson, Year 9

Overport Primary School

On Tuesday 21 and Thursday 23 June, two groups of Year 9 students visited Overport Primary School to do some volunteer work with the Prep to Grade 2 students.  During our time there, we had the opportunity to work with the prep students, which we both believe was a very productive morning.  We read with them and practised their spelling words, helping out if they needed it.  We really enjoyed the experience of working with the preps, and it developed our leadership skills.  Taylor and I believed that this opportunity improved our confidence, especially because it was something new for us.  We loved spending time with the students and hope that we can do more volunteer work in the future.

By Taylor Fraser and Alanah Bucher, Year 9 Students

The Briars

On Thursday of the last week of Term 2 we went out to The Briars.  We started off having a look around the whole area while we were waiting for a meeting to begin.  In the meeting they explained to us what we would be doing for the day which was weeding and planting trees.  By the end of the day we had planted so many trees.  The point of this activity was so the trees would grow to a height that the animals could eat and then move the animals on to the next section of trees.  This was a more environmentally friendly way to keep the trees at the perfect height and also fed the animals appropriately.  Overall it was a successful day.

By Maya Pinney, Year 9

In the last week of Term 2, a group of Year 9 students attended a day volunteering at The Briars.  Each student helped to contribute to the park's beautiful nature trail in need of mulch.  We all worked as a team to shovel the mulch into the wheel barrows, to be wheeled up and down hills and windy paths, to be raked across the path. When we had finished, we were all very tired but were filled with joy that we had helped a park in need. We learnt how to effectively and efficiently work as a team, and began to build friendships with new people. It was a fantastic experience that we were all very glad to have been involved.

By Maddy Vollmer , Year 9

On Tuesday 21 June, 16 students went to The Briars in Mount Martha to volunteer and help with the conservation of the park.  The Briars is a park/sanctuary that holds various varieties of flora and fauna and local animals.  During that day we helped mulch a few of the paths around some of the walking trails.  Our goal for the day was to mulch a 300 metre trail.  We completed our goal, and in quite good time!  It was a great experience, and I know we all went home with a great feeling that we were able to help a very wonderful place.  I definitely suggest to anyone else in the years to come to volunteer not just for The Briars but any place, it leaves you with a great feeling afterwards!

By Isabelle Dinelli, Year 9