Year 9 CLC Program

Our CLC group has had a telling fortnight of inspiration and team building.

AFL legend and arguably the greatest sporting product in Wangaratta High School’s 124 year history, Steve Johnson, visited on March 22nd.

Widely regarded one of the most freakishly-talented, big-game AFL players of all time, Stevie J boasts a CV that stacks up with the legends of footy (3x Premierships, 3x All Australian, Norm Smith Medallist, 2x Club Leading Goalkicker, 293 matches, 516 goals). 

CLC staff showed one of his highlight reels first, before detailing the beginning of his journey iby unearthing rare footage of him playing for the Tigers in an Under 17 grand final as a skinny 15 year old, including 3 goals in the signature style he later became famous for. Students were mesmerised also at the fact that in the 6 years he attended here, his School Footy team won the State Title 3 times.

In the context of CLC, it was Stevie’s stories of Resilience which hit home. First, how he was overlooked by Murray Bushrangers selectors as a 14 and 15 year old, did extra running, then returned 2 years later to Bushrangers trials and won their Beep Test with a score of 15.2, and weeks later being selected in the Under 18 All-Australian squad.

Then, once in the AFL system, more obstacles to overcome. First, breaking his ankles at a party so horrifically that doctors thought he’d never run again, let alone play football. Then, banished from the club (Geelong) for 7 weeks for disciplinary reasons, and just months later winning the Norm Smith Medal for the best player in the Grand Final as they won Geelong’s 1st Premiership in 43 years. 

Another telling story was when in 2011 he got a 6-week knee injury week before the Grand Final, could hardly walk the morning of the Grand Final, yet courageously played on the big day, kicked 4 goals and could have easily been awarded the Best On Ground medal again, in their 3rd premiership.

Stevie telling of these stories and how he bounced back to become the legend he became, is something CLC kids should never forget.

Thanks mate for coming in, being so generous with your time and the many kids who wanted your photo, and for in your own words, “giving back.”

Mrs Wilson showed the group a video on the African theme of Ubuntu, which translates to “I am, Because We Are”. Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers used it to drive the Celtics to the NBA Title in 2008, and we hope our kids reflect on this as they form teams for their Volunteering Project in Term 2.

After another weekly CLC Family Lunch, great man Tony Lane visited and spoke about the project on offer at the Mullinmur Billabong, which will involve creating animal nesting boxes, counting fish populations and other work around the local river. 

Mr Manning ran an epic session on Team Building. Randomly selected grouping forced the kids out of the comfort zone, and each team was tasked with constructing the tallest tower from just 7 pieces of newspaper and paper clips in 15 minutes, with prizes on offer. The champion team was Karlesha Dieckmann, Jack Ford, Emma Jory, Jamie Matthews, Clara Rochiccioli, Elliott Rowles and Will Simpson, with a height of 160cm. Runners up were Georgia Meggs, Zoi Miliankos-King and Merlin Tzaros at 140cm. Bronze was claimed with a tower of 136cm, by Oscar Benson, Noah Gambrell, Osten Hasson, Sienna Maguire and Jada Ryan. 

The day was rounded out with a Resilience challenge, where students attempted the Stick Bomb Challenge which is always one that many can’t master. Following a detailed YouTube tutorial, and with kids spread across the room on the carpet, the challenge was on. Some struggled and gave up early, others handled it quickly, and best of all, many others persisted and eventually succeeded. Standouts who won prizes for their effort & skill Bethany Tanner, Hannah Dods and Amarina Huggins, Skelly Manning, Cam Sgarioto, Clara Rochiccioli, Elliott Rowles, Jada Ryan, Georgia Meggs, Ava Byrne, Zoi Miliankops-King and Karlesha Dieckmann. Overall staff noticed it was once of the best efforts they had seen by a CLC group.

It was time for the kids to choose their projects on March 29th, and they enthusiastically added their names to the 10 possible options, ranking their preferred 3. There was an excellent spread, with most able to get their 1st preference, 

Each group then wrote a proposal to stake their claim to CLC staff, and then once confirmed, went old school in writing a handwritten letter to their Community Contact.

Mrs Wilson made a presentation on the Kindness Factory, and the inspirational story of its founder Kath Koeshchel. The kids were floored by her story and the kindness she continued to show people through her, including offering a lift home from the courthouse to the drunk driver that hit her. 

Kindness was again the focus after our CLC Family Lunch, when the whole room became involved in the creation of two Random Acts Of Kindness items. One was an Easter Egg Basket which they will present to a Myrrhee Primary School student next week. The Myrrhee kids will use their basket to store the eggs they collect which will be thrown across the oval by our kids. The second was the creation of Chocolate Rum Balls which they packed with a thank you card, and were given to WHS Staff at our Wednesday night meeting.

Our weekly Kindness Box again closed each day, with prizes again for those drawn by Mrs Newman out of the box nominated by their peers for doing something kind. 

Thanks again to all of our CLC kids for a stellar 2 weeks. The full-day excursion to Myrrhee PS helping Principal Ash “Mr Nice” Graham with jobs will be a great full stop on Term 1, and then Term 2 they are out volunteering.t through to Merlin’s family yesterday in a hope to inspire him.

Speaking of elite sporting talents, our CLC kids have booked in over the next fortnight a return visit from arguably the High School’s greatest ever sporting legend, former Geelong footballer, 3-time AFL Premiership player and Norm Smith Medalist, Stevie J Johnson. 

Jud Mullins

CLC