Year 9 CLC Program Chronicles

CLC Week 2 - Lake William Hovell

The Year 9 CLC Excursion Season commenced on Wednesday July 20th with an outstanding & eventful day trip to Lake William Hovell.

After packing the bus with firewood, matches, food, water, games equipment and 50 students, we hit the road at 9:30 for the hour drive into the High Country, picking up our local Moyhu & Cheshunt students on the way.

With clear skies above and the winter sun shining, the kids soaked in the breathtaking scenery of the still lake and surrounding mountains, all with no phones and no reception even they had one.

Swaye Frankland took the initiative and used her Scouts expertise to start building and lighting the camp fires for our lunch. With several boys including Riley Downing and Ned O’Kane joining her Fire Crew, the fires were soon blazing, and four BBQ plates of sausages were sizzling as we departed for our 45-minute Bush Walk. 

Prizes were on offer for the longest Tree Leaf collected on the walk, and after a manic competition, Lachlan Suffield came up trumps with a 63cm monster, pipping his mate Jed Marek by 1cm, with Harvey Cook unlucky to find his contender ripped and thus disqualified. The kids seemed delighted to be amongst nature, with some even spotting a deer, and many of them walked beside CLC staff discussing everything from school to family to life while walking side by side.

Our CLC Family Lunch was ready when we got back thanks to chefs Mrs Lane & Mrs Newman, and everyone lined up for the main course of snags in bread with sauce and coleslaw. We went old school too with kids hunting for sticks with which to cook Damper over the fire, and Dessert was also on offer in the form of Mrs Lane’s extremely tasty Brownies.

After a smooth day capped off by some team challenges, we were dealt a Body Blow when at 2:00pm with everybody boarded on the bus to come home.. the bus wouldn’t start. 

Suddenly we were telling 50 fifteen-year-olds to get off the bus, that they’d have to wait 90 minutes for another bus to collect us, and they wouldn’t be getting back to Wangaratta until 4:30pm, with many to miss connecting buses, music lessons, and even work. All of this as the sun started to drop toward the tree line and the temperature dropping quickly, and no phones to help them pass the time.

If you were to plan an activity on Resilience, one of the CLC’s key concepts, you could hardly script a more challenging one. Yet the kids were brilliant. Instead of whining, they got off the bus, made up their own games, further explored the area, socialised together, and even when pulling in to school 2 and a half hours later, they swarmed to help unload the bus and return the gear to the CLC building. It was a tremendous display from a wonderful group of young people, and a day they’ll remember forever.

Week 3: Indoor Climbing & Monument Hill

Week 3 of CLC took us interstate for a Double Banger Excursion.

First on the agenda was Indoor Climbing in East Albury, the ultimate challenge in strength, stamina and courage, but more importantly in terms of CLC, trust, positive thinking, and breaking outside your comfort zone.

After delivery of the instructions from the trained experts, the students were spliced into groups of 3, with each climber supported by their two mates, one belaying and the other feeding the belayer the rope. Teamwork and trust, two of the most vital CLC cogs, were at play across the room at every moment.

Soon the room was swarming with CLC Spiders. It was Tyrelle Clarke who was the first to climb, and he and his group members, Eli Stegman and Xavier Hogarth, didn’t stop for the entire 90 minutes. Swaye Frankland was the first to get to the top, did it at breakneck speed, and continued dominating every wall she could locate.

Everywhere you looked, there were CLC moments that made staff lean back and nod their heads. Jai Laxton and Jack Lockhart burned their arms up trying time and again to conquer the dreaded “overhang” wall. Phoebe Bosley, Ivey O’Connor and their group girls went from wall to wall hunting their next challenge. Climbers were calling down to their belayer, “I trust you”. Belayers were encouraging their climbers from below.

Students were conquering their fears. Some began the session with hands shaking, too anxious to climb, let alone in front of their peers. Yet those same kids ended up high on the wall, smiling and laughing. It was something special.

CLC Family Lunch was laid out in the Albury Botanical Gardens. Ham & salad sandwiches were the feature this time around, again prepared by our CLC Chef Mrs Lane. Then it was time for some more hard work.

Monument Hill War Memorial was our final destination, and when the students were told we were trekking on foot, they took off. A posse of the boys sprinted for as long as they could last, before the steep incline took its toll on the quads. Others took it slow, but even they couldn’t escape the burn of the legs. Eventually everyone made it to the top, rewarded with the expansive view back across Albury and beyond.

Students then spent time reading the plaques and putting themselves in the shoes of the fallen soldiers, many of whom were as young as 18 and 19. They were tasked to pick one soldier, remember their details, and upon returning to school reconstructed their own plaque on cards which we’ll add to our own CLC Memorial Wall. It was another fruitful, rewarding day of challenges, and the group is proving themselves to be one of the best CLC groups staff have seen.

Week 4 - Bounce, Wodonga

Our CLC students took further strides forward during a momentous Week 4.

Touching first on the previous week’s trip to the Albury Monument Hill War Memorial, the cohort was shown a video clip of Redgum’s classic war song “I Was Only 19” and asked to reflect on the images and powerful lyrics. While some had heard the song before, others hadn’t, and with the room darkened, the song at full volume, and the whole cohort as quiet as a mouse but wide-eyed and visibly stirred, it was the kind of moment that would put goosebumps on the skin of even the hardest men. 

Mr Paola followed on by speaking about his own father’s experiences in the Vietnam War, and reiterated the messages of empathy for others, and gratitude for the lives we are all able to live in modern times. The students then fetched their Soldier Cards from the previous week, and added a message of gratitude to their soldier, ready to display on our own CLC Memorial. 

We pulled into the Bounce Trampoline complex in Wodonga at 11:00am for a 2-hour booking, and the kids quickly filtered across the various areas of the venue in their grippy socks.

Like at the Indoor Climbing, there were CLC Moments left right and centre. The Basketball enthusiasts gravitated to the Slam Dunk Rings, and once they got their bearings and timing, some epic Dunk Competitions ensued. Tom Ford was probably the standout, his trademark dunk being the perfectly timed one-arm 360, while Seth Burns, Jack Lockhart, Zavier Frost, Jai Laxton, Bradley Bertalli, Daniel Hammond & Tyrelle Clark also drew grunts from onlookers with their dunks.   

The recently returned Zavier was brilliant on the trampolines. He was able to leap on to the highest walls, and after being challenged to drop to his back from a wall probably 3m high, he worked up the courage to execute the drop. Jai was the other gun trampolinist, his athleticism enabling him to pull off flips few others could even try, and he eventually mastered a couple of moves he’d been trying to all day.

Students that for one reason or another didn’t climb the previous week, were suddenly harnessed in and climbing on this occasion, taking their second chance by the throat.

CLC Family Lunch was pizza, wedges & fruit juice, courtesy of the Bounce Kitchen, with our standard box of fruit sourced for us each week by Louisa Hayes at Wellbeing. Our kids ate at Long Tables like they were at a King’s Feast, and again, socialised face to face without phones. Another big moment occurred when the limited number of second servings were being divided to those wanting more, and the outstanding young budding leader Lachlan Suffield sacrificed himself by stepping aside to allow others to take the leftovers.

But the highlight was the way our kids interacted with the little kids at the venue. It started with a very confident and aggressive 3-yo boy in the Dodge Ball cage, hurling balls at three of our girls, Tara Wevers, Lily Maher, and Lily Wyatt. The girls were wonderful, taking the hits, softly hitting him back, and laughing while his smiling mum watched on. 

It seemed to catch on with the other toddlers. Soon after, Paige Vincent had another boy probably about 4yo, on her shoulders. Declan Lewis was on the ground taking balls from another young boy. Daniel Hammond was being chased around by a pair of young siblings who wanted in on the action. 

Best of all, was Jackson Tilly and a group of our girls in Tahlia Lawler, Lily Oates and Phoebe Bosley. A 4-yo girl had taken a liking to our girls, who were playing Dodge Ball with her and making sure she was safe among our Big Kids. She picked out Jackson as her main target, and was throwing every ball she could find at him. At one stage, Jackson was on the ground copping hit after hit to his head, face and everywhere else from the youngster who was having so much fun she eventually had to be dragged out by her giggling parents. 

It was something special to watch. The tenderness with which our kids dealt with the toddlers, the awareness they had regarding the need to bounce safely around them, and the kindness. One father trusted our kids so much that he allowed his tiny son, who must have been 1 or 2 years old, to go with Tahlia who at one stage was bouncing with him hand in hand on one of the advanced trampolines. Three separate parents came up to CLC staff to acknowledge how impressed they were. 

CLC staff thanked the cohort for once again displaying the values we are trying to instill in them as we progress through Term 3. It’s been a pleasure to observe, as they create memories in each external environment they are taken to, forge new bonds with each other and staff, and develop the skills which will set them up for their Term 4 volunteering projects, and of course, beyond Year 9.

Jud Mullins – CLC