Enhance Whittlesea Term 3 Week 2 2017

The second week of Enhance was all about enhancing leadership skills and building up confidence in abilities. We started off Wednesday at the Edge, where we met with Blair from Baseline Youth Services. Blair spoke to our students about the youth services’ role within the community, as well as giving a broader understanding of the different levels of government. We finished the great session off with a number of leadership activities. After this, we headed out to a nearby bike track to explore the area for the afternoon.

Thursday morning we met the group at Southern Cross station for the start of our overnight city camp. Our first activity for the day was an Amazing Race, which saw the students racing around the city answering a wide range of questions. The students had to work together in groups, navigate using a map and use teamwork to get the most points. After a lunch break we headed down to the VicSRC head office for another leadership workshop. This session run by Matt was all about brainstorming our community project, and looking at where the students can go with these projects in the future. There were a lot of fantastic ideas and we’re looking forward to seeing what comes to fruition.

After such a productive day we had some free time for relaxing before a delicious dinner at our accommodation. Staying on Collins Street made it easy to get around, and in the evening we had a lovely walk along Southbank to Eureka Skydeck. While we were up there we went out on ‘the edge’ which was a rather terrifying experience. Check out the group photo below!

The second day of our program gave us opportunities to learn more about the issues within the community the students have chosen to focus on. First up we met with Di, a youth resource officer at the Melbourne East police station who talked to the students about issues surrounding homelessness, as well as about safety in the city. Following this session we headed to the Immigration Museum to read and hear about stories of newly arrived people. The final session for the day was spent not listening, but talking! The students learnt all about how to run a radio show at SYN radio station. After preparing their segments, we were able to put together our own podcast, with everyone gaining confidence speaking over the mic. All in all it was a fun and informative couple of days and we can't wait for the next camp!