Moreland week 1 2018
Welcome to the first term of 2018! We are working within the Moreland area this term, and can’t wait to work with all the amazing schools and services that we have access to. This blog will be updated every week, and will give you an insight into the activities and workshops we’ve been doing.
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On Wednesday the 2nd of May, we started the week with our fantastic group of new students at Oxygen Youth Centre in Coburg for our first introductory session. We spent the first half of the day doing some ice breaker activities, to get to know one another a bit better. As a group, we then created our group code of conduct, and decided on our top 5 group values. We decided on communication, respect, teamwork, encouragement and attitude. We then were visited by Sal from the MFB who is a boxing trainer, and will be running a few boxing sessions with us. Sal gave the young people the encouragement needed to push themselves through the session, and by the end, everyone was giving it 110%. We concluded the day by running through what was in store for tomorrow and ran through the expectations for our journal workbook.
Day two was a big day for the program, which saw us heading to the Dandenong Ranges to complete the 1000 Steps. The Kokoda Track Memorial Walk got us practicing our hiking skills, to prepare us for our You Yangs camp in week two of the program. The walk was a test for us mentally and physically, as we hiked up the steps through the beautiful forest. The young people took it in turns to lead the hike, and our values of communication and teamwork were tested as we focused on resilience and growth mindsets. After a quick hike to the top, the young people were feeling exhausted, but everyone pushed through and accomplished the hike. After the hike, we made our way to the Trees Adventures in Belgrave. The Trees Adventures is a series of obstacle courses up in the trees. The courses included flying foxes, huge cargo nets, wobbling platforms and free falls. We all participated in completing multiple tracks, and each young person challenged themselves and encouraged each other to face their fears.
Friday was a more relaxed day, where we met at CAS, and we had the chance to go through our character strengths. The young people got to take their VIA character strengths test and figure out their top 5 strengths, which were then recorded in their journals to help them reflect on later. We also got to meet with the team from Reach who will be conducting workshops with later in the program. In the later half of the day, we ventured out to Ceres, Community Environment Park. Here we met Dennis who showed us how to pull apart bikes piece by piece. Everyone had a job to do and it proved to be an eye opener for many of the young people in discovering skills they never knew they had. We had the opportunity to find out about the community bike program and ask any questions we had. At the end of the day, we went through our issues and acknowledgements and had a group discussion around the benefits for the group.
Overall, it was an exciting week filled with lots of activities and excitement. We are definitely looking forward to the rest of the program to challenge ourselves even more!
