Latrobe Outreach

Writer's Workshop

On Monday the 10th of September 14, students from Years 9 - 11 were able to attend a writer’s workshop in Shepparton. The students worked with two fantastic authors Kelly Gardiner & Kirsty Murray. The first group entered a world of adventure and thrills in their workshop with Kelly learning how to construct adventure stories and how to help your characters stand out. Students looked at famous literary works like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games & Deltora Quest for inspiration about the development of an adventure story and used Kelly’s experiences to establish an understanding of what adventure writing looks like. The second group worked with Kirsty Murray on truth, fiction and storytelling. Kelly discussed how she uses her own personal experiences and creates worlds of fiction. Students used their senses of sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste to recreate a personal story from their lives or their family history with vivid detail.

After the workshops we all congregated for a question and answer session with both authors. Kelly and Kirsty shared stories of their lives as authors and what the journey is like to become a full time writer. Throughout the day Cobram students shared their passion for writing with each other and their groups. Students left the workshop armed with knowledge and skills to help them become aspiring writers.

Dare to Dream

On Tuesday 11th September, a group of Year 9 students went to Latrobe University at Shepparton to attend the Dare to Dream workshop. During the day, students listened to motivational talks by young entrepreneurs and were presented information about following their career dreams – using e-commerce and running a successful chain of cupcake stores.

Students also played different roles within groups to work as a team to develop, film and present a marketing campaign for a Halloween range of cupcakes, using cupcakes from Cupcake Central, a business dreamed up and owned by one of the entrepreneurs that spoke at the workshop. 

Students were encouraged to push themselves out of their comfort zone by taking on roles within their groups and working in teams made up of people that they might not necessarily have chosen to work with. The day allowed students to see that if you have a passion, there is every opportunity to take that passion and turn it into a career – you just need to dare to dream big and work hard!