YARRA TERM 2 WEEK 5 2024

Hello Everyone! Here another week gone, oh the time flies. Lets have our weekly run down.

Wednesday:

On Wednesday, the 29th we gathered the group at Collingwood Station. Our first stop was the Richmond Recreation Centre for our final group gym session, led by a personal trainer. This time, all the students had the chance to kickstart their own warm-up routines and dive into their workouts, showcasing their familiarity with the equipment and exercises. It was truly inspiring to witness the growth and confidence of the group since our previous session. With laughter and determination, they pushed themselves to new heights, supporting each other every step of the way. Guided by the personal trainer, we concluded the session with a group circuit for a satisfying warm-down, celebrating the progress made together.

After the workout, we made our way to CAS, where we enjoyed a well-deserved lunch and engaged in a friendly game of basketball and volleyball. Before making our way to the Yarra Youth Centre, where we were greeted by Ror, a talented hip-hop artist. Ror led us to the recording studio and shared his expertise on how to utilize the equipment. The group eagerly embraced the opportunity to collaborate on a collective hip-hop song, brainstorming lyrics and experimenting with music production. With laughter they unleashed their creativity, coming up with catchy rhymes and melodies for the song.  As the day progressed, the group worked together to bring their song to life. With Ror's guidance, they navigated the recording process with confidence and ultimately recording the full song. Leaving the Yarra Youth Centre with smiles on their faces and memories to cherish.

Thursday:

On Thursday the 30th of May the crew headed up to Britannia Creek Caves to do some caving! We got loaded up with gear, including overalls, helmets, head torches and an emergency bag full of batteries and first aid. Once going through a quick safety talk and made our way down to the caves, allocating leaders and leadership goals for students to reflect on! Now for the fun stuff! We squeezed our way through tiny spaces, large boulders and flowing water and spent the next hour navigating a dark and tight cave! Students did an amazing job helping each other get through tricky spots and keeping moral high! Once getting through the first cave the boys decided to go back in and try to navigate it backwards, getting through it half the time! The students displayed great courage and persistence speaking out about feeling claustrophobic and anxious at times but remained calm and kept going!

Friday:

On Friday we started practicing our bike riding skills in preparation for our bike camp next week! We gathered at the Collingwood Alternative School, meeting Tony and Andrew from Victoria Police who were going to be joining us! We went over the ABCDDE’s of riding a bike, so that students could teach this to English language students in a few weeks! After checking all the essentials from wearing your helmet and checking your brakes we went through a few drills and games to learn control on the bikes, with Tony leading students through this! After this we headed off to ride the Yarra bike trail, riding approximately 15mins up to fed square were we stopped for some lunch before riding back! Some students braved the dirt path with a big down hill slope! While on the trial we practice patience and teamwork waiting for each of the crew to be ready to ride and making sure everyone stayed together, as well as perseverance biking up some steep hills!