Snowy River Experience

Hi, my name is Emily Higgins, and I am a year 9 student at Melbourne Girls College. I came to the SSL for the benefits of stepping out of my comfort zone, becoming more confident, learning new skills and working on my mental health specifically my anxiety. Now, I can confidently say that my time at the SSL with Leanne, Lily, Scarlet and all the other students from across Victoria have been some of the most thrilling and exciting few days I have ever had! From the activities to the classes, amazing teachers and the lifelong friends we are all making, this experience has really been like no other. Some of the highlights of my time here have been the outside activities including mountain biking, surfing and the two-day expo where we canoed and did bridge building. I never thought I could ride down a dirt track, catch a wave while standing on my board (for 3 seconds) or canoe down a long river, but I gave it a go, stepped out of my comfort zone, and I have no regrets! The School for Student Leadership schooling system is quite different compared to normal school. We wake up at 6:30 am every morning (I know!) and our bedtime is 9:30 pm. There are two student leaders everyday who make announcements and take charge. We get our names picked out of a hat to do duties like sweep the hallways, set up or washup for breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, etc. Lastly, the thing that surprised me the most is that we have evening classes which run from 7:30-8:30 pm, and we also have a roommate whom we share the space with. My roommate, Gemma, goes to Gisborne Secondary College and is super nice, and I’m really happy to be sharing a room with her! It’s all a lot to take in at first, however I found that settling into this kind of lifestyle wasn’t that challenging because even though you are with 40 other strangers, we all want to make friends and be included and accepted, so we treat each other that way which has made my first few days here a blast!

Hey MGC students, staff and parents! 

I’m Lily, a year 9 student at MGC. I’m currently away at the School for Student Leadership (SSL) located near the Snowy River with 3 of my peers, Leanne Leong, Emily Higgins and Scarlet Harrison. 

I am so grateful and fortunate that I got the opportunity to spend 5 weeks away from home at the SSL Snowy River Campus. We have only been here in Marlo for 11 days now, and I honestly don’t think I can put into words how much I’m loving this experience. It feels like I have been here for so long because of how quickly I made friends with everyone, but it also feels like time is just flying by. 

I was so nervous the night before and morning of arriving here because I was unsure if I would enjoy myself or make any new friends. I quickly realised that everyone was in the same boat and soon enough, I had built many strong friendships and relationships with my peers. Although I have only been here for about a week and a half, I have learnt so much. The SSL is causing me to face my fears and step outside of my comfort zone. I’m learning to relate to people from all over Victoria and to celebrate people strengths and successes but also support people when they feel they’re at their most vulnerable. 

I have experienced so much here already. Some of my highlights so far have been learning how to surf (kind of, not really), meeting all these new and amazing people that I feel I’ve known for years, going fishing, riding the two-person bike, doing JustDance, going down to the beach, camping, going canoeing, bridge building, mountain bike riding, and just kicking the footy with everyone and playing guitar in my free time. I have also really enjoyed getting closer with Leanne, Emily and Scarlet (the other MGC girls) as I wasn’t very close with them before coming here. 

Being at the SSL definitely made a huge change to my daily schedule. My alarm goes off at 6:00am every morning and by 6:30am I’m either in the shower or out in the common room eating breakfast. Our first class starts at 9:00am and throughout the day we have a variety of Leadership, Environment, Wellbeing, and physical/hands on classes. Our last class for the day is our evening class. It starts at 7:30pm and finishes around 8:30pm, which gives us enough time to shower, say goodnight and be in bed by 9:15pm. 

My roommate Shanae goes to Mount Ridley College in Craigieburn, which is about a 50 minute drive from MGC. She is the sweetest ever and I’m really enjoying getting to know her. Since having a roommate is a very new experience for me, I’m struggling to keep my half of the room neat and tidy. Every Saturday (our days off), Shanae and I clean our room, ready for the week. 

Every day we have two new Student Leaders who lead headcounts, inform everyone of where, when and what their classes are for the day, and ensures everyone has the right equipment and resources for their classes. At the end of the day, Student Leaders and the Leaders for the following day call the other leaders from different campuses and discuss their successes and if they have achieved their community goal.

The food here is actually a lot better than I first expected. Yesterday was Veggie Wednesday, so we didn’t have meat in any of our meals. I’m really grateful for all the great food Ms Wade and Ms Pascall make for us. 

We have many duties throughout the day, and you can have up to 3 duties each day. These duties consist of meal set ups, common clean up, and wash ups or bathroom and laundry clean up. 

This is what you must do for each duty:

Meal set ups – Set up and serve the meals.

Common clean up – Sweep/mop the floors, clean tables, chairs up/down. 

Wash up – Wash plates and cutlery from previous meals

Bathroom and Laundry clean up – Sweep the laundry and bathroom. 

I’m really enjoying this experience and I will always be grateful I was given the opportunity to be apart of this program. Because of Covid, the program has been cut short, meaning I’m only here for 5 weeks instead of 9. I’m trying to make the most of every opportunity that has come my way. I’m having the best time and can’t wait to tell everyone about it when I’m home!!

Lily Murrihy 9C