Year 9 CLC Program

It’s been a Powerful Few Weeks for our Year 9 CLC students who have dived deeper into their Volunteering Projects around town.

At Wangaratta West Primary School the “Grounds Crew” (Will Simpson, Noah Sacco, Cooper Hardman & Jayson Bounpraseuth) have continued patrolling the yard with wheelbarrows, shovels, blowers and pick axes, ticking off labouring jobs ranging from filling up holes on the oval with soil, blowing leaves & sand from sport courts, watering and mulching new trees, transporting plants, sanding and varnishing seats and tables, and digging trenches turning rock hard ground into lush new garden beds to spruce up the Afterschool Care area. Wang West leadership & CLC staff have marvelled at their productivity and the transformation some of their work has had on the school yard. One Wang West student even ran up to them and thanked them.

In the Wang West  PS classrooms, both the “Classroom Helper” girls (Sienna Maguire, Bailey Tanner, Jayde Peake, Georgia Meggs & Pieper Gottschling) and the “P.E Clinician” boys (Osten Hasson, Jack Ford, Oscar Benson & Emilio Miliankos-King) have similarly impressed staff and leadership, and of course still have the little kids idolising them with wide eyes, swarming them in the yard and speaking about them to their parents at the Dinner Table. Similar feedback has come through by the way for the Wangaratta Primary School helpers (Levi Zachariou, Hayden Cornhill & Cooper Young).

Both the Make A Wish Foundation group (Emma Jory, Merin Sessions, Holly Hadley, Will King, Jamie Matthews, Maddison Kelly and Noah Gambrell) and the Wangaratta Hospital team (Harry Hyland, Ayden Preece & Roy Dunstan) have been busy fundraising, making use of the Coles Community BBQ and generating almost $200 each in one day alone. 

The Wangaratta Night Shelter/Zac’s Place girls (Amarina Huggins, Bethany Tanner, Naomi Roberts & Hannah Dods) have approached various businesses and secured donations of new lighting to Zac’s Place (the daytime shelter for the homeless & vulnerable) courtesy of Bunnings, and a Microwave from Harvey Norman. They then had a powerful visit to Zac’s Place where they helped Di Duursma plan where to put the lights, handed over and installed the microwave, and had the pleasure of meeting a former-homeless man who shared his story of being homeless and on the street for 15 years.

Positive stories continue coming back from the groups helping at the Iloura & St.John’s Aged Care Homes, and the Mullinmur Billabong group (Merlin Tzaros, Clara Rochochiolli, Jack Berry, Freddie Lowe & Abbey Waide) has had Tony Lane extremely impressed with their attitude and work such as building, installing and monitoring animal nesting boxes.

Preparations began last week for the End Of Semester Presentation, where each group will present their achievements and try out some Public Speaking. They have created detailed Powerpoints, made display posters for the events, sent out handwritten thank you cards to their hosts. Merlin Tzaros and Emilio Miliankos-King have put their hand up to take on the prestigious role of Emcee for the event, and we have secured the services of two of our most exciting up and coming rock musicians to perform.

We again thank our kids, everyone hosting them, and of course a special thank you to the businesses and people donating goods to the aforementioned groups.

Jud Mullins