Enhance Term Week 5 2019
Its the final week of the program and we all have lots to do. None of us can believe how quickly this week has come! This week we have Poppys entry of the Wednesday, Jassys entry of the Thursday and a Newstart workers review of the grad. This term has been incredible with the students and they should all be extremely proud of what they've achieved.
Wednesday by Poppy.
Today was the second last day of Newstart, and I know that I’m going to miss everyone in the group, although we’ll hopefully be able to catch up after the program’s finished. At the beginning of the day, we discussed the graduation on Friday, for which I’m doing the introduction/welcome to country and I’ll do my speech seventh. I'm curious to see the video that Brendon and Jess made, and excited for all the parents and teachers to see the documentary. My speech is focused on cross-country skiing and Lake Mountain and peer leadership. I might also be singing Stitches at the graduation, with Sophie and Jasmine, which I’m nervous about because they’re both really good singers (but I’m actually TERRIBLE). Next, We did some more work on the documentary and I did some voice overs, as well as interviewing a rando cyclist. Later, we went to the park to set up for CELS, but got a bit distracted (somehow ended up talking about getting struck by lightning, I don’t know what that was about). When the CELS arrived, we were pleasantly surprised when we found out they could all ride bikes, so after we fitted them with their helmets and bikes, we got straight into the activities. I think that everyone, including me, really enjoyed the ride, and we were saying goodbye before we knew it. Sophie, Michael, Louis and I also got a chance to interview Sean and Tony for the documentary, which I think went really well. I really want to see the final product, and I hope it’s good because I put a lot of effort in to it.
Thursday by Jassy S.
Today when we all met up we got straight to work. We started by discussing what needed to be done on the doco, and those of us who couldn’t help worked on our speeches. I was lucky. Since i’d done the majority of mine the night before, I only had to edit and add a little bit to it. We then went into the music room with Tony to practice our performance of ‘Stitches’ by Shawn Mendes. It sounded amazing and I had no idea how talented everyone was. After a while I began to get more comfortable, and although I still firmly believe I can’t sing, I decided I would share a mic with Poppy. We then went to get the bikes down and all the equipment out for the CELS kids. Once they arrived, we did a quick intro, and then we were off. We rode as a group for a bit, and then we separated into three smaller groups to have some practice scanning and indicating. The two students we were working with became visibly more comfortable on the road just in the time we were with them. After that we pedalled back to HQ, and had to say our goodbyes to the CELS kids. They all looked really happy with their new bikes, and I felt really happy for them. Once they headed off, we ducked inside to put the bikes away, and then headed off. I am talking about making the doco, and two styles of leadership - peer and designated. I’m a little bit nervous, but I think I’ll be fine because at school I do this quite a bit.
Today is the day, graduation is here!
This day is all about celebrating the young people and their incredible efforts over the term. Right until the end everyone worked their butts off to get the most out of this program and the community project. As a whole the group put in 48 hours of extra work while others put in a few more by staying back and coming early to get it done. We started the grad by arriving at Mark Street Hall dressed to impressed with our speeches ready. We let the crowd of parents, facilitators, teachers and loved ones fill the space and began our final activity. With the up most admiration to the young people each of them did an amazing job with their speech. All the speeches were well said, insightful and gave everyone a clear understanding of what they have learnt from this term. One of the most enjoyably parts of the graduation was the performance that the team preformed together. After having just one hour to practice they all took up a role and played Shawn Mendes 'stitches' perfectly. This is the first time we have had a group of students preform a song as a whole group and so was a very special thing to share. After having watched the end of term video and awarding the students their graduation certificates, we all shared some food and said our final goodbyes for this term. 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, TAC 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 2019 - Thank you all for a great term and congratulations on graduating! Brendon and I are extremely proud of all of you and we can't wait to see you in school in the future.
