Follow the Dream 

Year 10 & 11 students from St Philip's College, Alice Springs visited Melbourne this year for their annual Leadership Excursion. These leadership excursions are aimed at boosting students' career and study aspirations and help to develop students leadership skills. 

During the excursion, students visited the Murrup Barak at the University of Melbourne, the Wilin Centre at the Victoria College of Performing Arts and the Moondani Toombadool Centre at Swinburne University to learn about life at university, First Nations student support services, scholarships, and future employment possibilities. 

These university tours sparked a lot of interest from students eager to study nursing, art and linguistics once they finish school, and equipped them with how to access accommodation services, scholarship and support services. 

Students participated in a workshop with the Clothing the Gaps Foundation - Shades of Deadly, giving students time to reflect on what it’s like to be a First Nations person in Australia. 

During the week students visited the Richmond Tigers FC and the Korin Gamadji Institute to hear from Shaye Bolton and Marlon Pickett, and students were lucky enough to get photos and autographs from other Richmond players. Later in the week students saw the players in action as they went up against the Essendon Bombers at the MCG for the Dreamtime at the G clash. Students also participated in the Michael Long - Long Walk and the Long Walk festivities at the Alexandra Gardens. FTD students joined a large gathering of mobs from across Australia participating in fun activities and live performances across the day. 

The surprising highlight for many of the students was visiting the National Gallery of Victoria to visit the gallery’s impressive art collection.

Steve Krocker, a Mazda Foundation board member and his wife Lyn visited students on the last day of the excursion. Steve heard from students about their amazing experiences on the excursion and their participation in the Follow the Dream program. FTD students presented Steve with a canvas print of the artwork they created during Follow the Dream sessions with local artist Mel Gunner as a gift for the Mazda Board. 

PFF would like to thank the Mazda Foundation and NIAA for their support of the St Philip's College Follow the Dream program. These excursions allow students to gain a great understanding of the opportunities that exist for First Nations students. Over the coming weeks students will continue to work on setting their future study and career goals. 

~ Hamish McLoughlin

Program Coordinator GPFF