Gnurad Gundidj

Six Kew High School students were selected to attend Gnurad Gundidg School for Student Leadership in Term 4, 2017. The school for student leadership was a nine-week leadership program located in South-East Victoria. The purpose of the program was to develop our leadership skills, life skills, how to better manage ourselves, and a gain a deeper understanding of our strengths and weaknesses.

We were at the school with 44 other kids from other schools who we ate with, worked with, and saw almost every day. No day was the same at Gnurad. Some were spent mountain biking or camping over 2 or 3 days and others were spent mucking around in first aid class, coming up with fake injuries and using paint to make it more real. We had other activities like a movie night, formal night, and many off-campus trips.

F-10 Strands

While on campus we had activities called ‘F-10 Strands’. These were classroom activities, but weren’t like our usual Maths and English classes at Kew High School. We had classes such as Metacognition which was ‘thinking about thinking’, Self-Awareness, Questions and Possibilities, Cultural Diversity, and so on. These were made enjoyable by the teachers as we were engaged with different physical activities rather than working from textbooks.

Bridge Building

Bridge building was our first activity as a group. We had three hours to build a bridge across a stream, without touching the water. We learnt how to tie specific knots and make tripods to lean the wood on. Throughout the bridge building we learned that everyone had different strengths we used in different ways. We all worked really well as a team.

Raft Building

Raft building was our last activity as a team. We went to a Stingray Bay to build our raft on the beach off the river. We used drums and wooden poles to build our raft, which failed on our first attempt. We were given two options; we could either go and have lunch or try again with only 45 minutes remaining. We tried again but we didn’t have enough time so we just mucked around on the drums and the main-frame. It was a really good way to end our last activity.

Expedition 1

‘Expo 1’ was our first camping trip as a group. We started hiking in Timboon and had to hike along an old railroad, a riding/walking track. We hiked along the railroad for 12 kilometres, through dense forest. We had a stopover at a natural waterhole around halfway through the walk. That night we cooked our dinner and slept in tents overnight at Glenfyne. The next day we had an 18-kilometre ride along the railroad on tandem bikes.

Expedition 2

‘Expo 2’ was our second expedition. We rode tandem bikes for 18 kilometres from Koroit to Port Fairy campground, where we set up tents and went to the beach to muck around. The next day we went surfing on the beach in the morning and after, we had to walk seven kilometres along the beach in 35 degree heat to our campground in Killarney, where we would spend our last night. We spent the afternoon snorkelling or fishing in the ocean right next to our campsite. In the morning we got up at 5:30 in the morning to see a beautiful sunrise on the beach before continuing on for another five kilometre walk on the beach to the end of our journey.

Canoeing and Mountain Biking

Canoeing was about an hour drive from campus in Princetown. We went canoeing along a river that led into the ocean about one hour away. For some of the group we went with, it was a new experience and for others it was something they had experienced before. The point of canoeing was to create strong ties between everyone in our group. This idea of getting closer together through challenging activities carried through to our Mountain Biking trip. We drove to Forrest and spent the day there. Both these experiences made our already tight-knit group eve closer.

Mt Noorat

Mt Noorat is a mountain that we climbed in our first few weeks at the camp. You could see it from our campus and we were told stories of how the indigenous elders used to meet there as a meeting place. Even though it is called ‘Mt Noorat’, it was actually a dormant volcano, which scientists believe will erupt in around 3000 years. The mountain/volcano is 300 metres above sea level and the crater is 200 metres deep. We all walked down the crater and raced to the top afterwards, which was fun. At the top you could see the school in the distance as well as kilometres and kilometres of farmland.

Mt Sturgeon

Mt Sturgeon was another mountain we climbed. The mountain lies in the Grampians National Park around 50 kilometres from Halls Gap. The walk up the mountain was steep, with loose rocks and dense forest. Mt Sturgeon is a lot higher than Mt Noorat as it was 533 metres above sea level. This gave us an amazing view of the Grampians National Park and the town of Dunkeld below.

Surprise Tour

For one day during the camp we got to go on a surprise tour somewhere. Our day started off by driving to Wreck beach, along the Great Ocean Road. The weather was rainiy and cold. The waves crashed really close to the beach, getting us absolutely soaked. After that we drove further along the Great Ocean Road to the 12 Apostles. The wind and rain made it hard to see anything but we didn’t really mind as we had all had a really fun day.

Community Learning Project

As part of the School for Student Leadership, we participate in a Community Learning Project (CLP). The CLP is a project that we do back in our home community. After tough debate, we decided to create a garden at Kew High School between the VCE lockers and the library. This will turn an unused, empty looking place into a lively looking garden for our school community to enjoy.

Leah Boxshall, Merrick Craven, Lia Jowett, Marlena Lange-Pirrie, Lewis Mossman, and Sam Richards.

MONASH UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP

Branden Milburn

Congratulations Helen Vu