Enhance Term week 5 2018

It's the final week of the program and it has flown by! This week is about wrapping up our community project, reflection and celebration.

We stated the week with our bike donation day. This day was our most exciting and rewarding day of our community project as we were able to finally give the Collingwood English Language school students their bikes. The morning started with prep work for our donation later in the day. We had to load the bikes, delegate roles, shop for food and prepare the food. With admiration to the young people they were all on their A game today. We all established and understood our roles, stacked the bikes, organised the food (fairy bread and fruit skewers which were a hit!) and then headed to Darling gardens where our bike donation was going to take place. After setting up in the gardens and playing some games as we waited for all the CELS students to arrive, we were ready to start our final lesson. Each and every young person took control and acted as great role models and leaders. We played warm up games, split the groups into riders and non riders and either continued to teach those who couldn't ride how to ride, or went on a ride around the park. It was lovely to see everyone on this day smiling and enjoying themselves. We had parents, teachers and all of the students get involved and enjoy this final day. The day ended with some shared food, a few speeches and a lot of thank you messages from all. It was a great day for all and a bitter sweet moment as we successfully donated the bikes and finished our community project. As bonus information Kylie from the CELS told me that the young people did such a great job at being leaders that some of the students want to be mechanics when they grow up 'like the big kids'. Its warming to hear this and to know that all the Enhance students made an impact this strong.

Thursday was a day of preparation and reflection as we prepared for graduation. We picked up the young people from Collingwood station for the last time and headed straight to Yarra Youth services. Once here we settled in and got straight into our speech writing. It was great to see everyone pick a topic of interest to them and work so well on their speeches. Each young person really put in effort to make their speech right and to say what they wanted to say. We were lucky enough that the sun was shining on this day so we could work outside and enjoy our last day together. After our speeches were done and rehearsed we were able to participate in some down time and work on our community project video. It was awesome to see everyone working together to get the video done or to hang out together and reflect on the term. We finished this day feeling excited and ready to graduate.

Today is the day - Graduation has arrived! This day is all about celebrating the young people and their efforts over the term. We all arrived at Yarra Youth dressed up and ready to go. The energy was high as parents, teachers and program participants/supports filled the room. With the up most admiration to the young people each of them did an amazing job with their speech. They were well said, insightful and extremely enjoyable to listen to. It was great to see everyone have a smile on their face throughout the whole celebration as we reflected on the term. After the speeches, some awards and a preview of our end of term video and our community project video we were able to enjoy some food and say our goodbyes. A massive thank you to all the supporters of the program who made this term happen. Without the commitment of Kyle form the Collingwood English Language school, Good cycles, AvantiPlus, Yarra City Council and the school and parents, this term wouldn't of been as successful. We are all extremely proud of the young people and cant wait to see their leadership skills grow and take them far in life. It was a great day overall filled with joy and excitement. To the Enhance crew of 2018 - Thank you for a great term and congratulations on graduating!