Compass/Duke of Ed

Compass Award Level 3 Students Go Exploring

Congratulations go out to our Year 7 explorers as they worked towards achieving their Award in the first week of term. They completed various challenges along their route/exploration through parts of Warrandyte State Park.

The students had to cope with challenging terrain as they navigated their way around the course. They had to complete a tent challenge which they did with success.  The area where the majority of learning and development took place was with the cooking challenge; preparing, cooking and cleaning on a Trangia stove with minimal water, which proved intense.

The students were extremely excited and positive, they walked in a safe manner, coped with carrying their packs and supported each other.  Overall it was great to see the students putting their training and practice to good use. Well done, I look forward to seeing the students' reflections in their Award booklets.

Bronze Duke of Ed group complete their practice camp and Level 4 Compass Award students complete their final exploration experience 

All students were certainly challenged over the course of the exploration. For some, it was walking to new heights (literally) as they conquered Mt Timbertop, reaching heights high up into the clouds.  Others were challenged by the distances covered over both the days. 

The organisation of the students' food proved to be interesting for some.... did they pack enough?....... did they pack the best/energy dense food for themselves?     There was also the snake sighting for the first group and the waterlogged footpath which resembled a creek due to the recent rain.  Despite these events, the students supported each other, had fun, enjoyed the views and skimmed stones into a beautiful river. At one point I was blown away; we stopped at one of the huts by the river and looked up - the students were in awe of the beauty; moss covered rocks in a gorge area which looked just like a tropical rainforest area.  

Well done to all students, you should be pleased, but I also hope you can take time to think and learn from those challenges and then carry on to take your adventures to new heights.

Congratulations to all.