Enhance 2016 Week One
It's been a few weeks since we've had a program running and we’re glad to get back into it! We’ve got a great group of students for our Enhance leadership program who have already finished their first week, which was jam packed full of activities.
On Wednesday we had our first city day, meeting at Southern Cross station before heading down to the Library at the Dock for an intro session. The students all participated in a range of icebreaker activities before setting a group code of conduct.
From the library we jumped on a tram and headed to Hard Rock climbing in preparation for caving. Everyone put on a harness and had a go at a range of different walls. Indoor rock climbing is a really challenging activity that requires perseverance, courage and trust; which all the students showed. It was also great to see everyone responsibly belaying their peers.
After rock climbing and a quick lunch break we headed to the state library to do some brainstorming around community and our upcoming film project.
Thursday was a really big day on the program, where we went caving at Labertouche. We met up with the Western iLead program on the way, who we’ll be spending more time with throughout the program. At the cave, we put on harnesses and were lowered down one by one into the cave entrance, a distance of about 8 metres. This can be the most challenging part of caving for some, having no idea what to expect. We spent the next couple of hours moving through the boulderous cave as a group, using every part of our body. The students all worked fantastically together and supported each other through direction,assistance and communication.
Friday morning we had our first introduction to filmmaking, where our film expert Baz introduced the students to a range of documentaries as inspiration and examples before teaching the students how to use the video camera and boom mike. All students will have the chance over the next few weeks to interview some of the people we meet at various community organisations, as well as use the film equipment. It was a great intro and we’re hoping the students have been inspired to make their own documentary.
In the afternoon we headed out to CERES sustainability centre and urban farm, where we met Ian who showed us all around the farm. He told us lots of useful information about sustainability, and what CERES does to encourage making positive environmental choices in everyday life. The students also began designing some classroom activities that may be used in their final community project.
