YARRA TERM 3 WEEK 9 2022
Hello everyone!
Sad to say, but also very excited to update everyone with the final week of our program this term.
We started on Wednesday the 7th of September where we collected the group and headed first thing to a park. Every day, just before drop off we would share what we were grateful for that day, and this helps to learn to face the day positively, even though there are some moments we don’t always look forward to. Building off this reflection tool, we gave the students quality time to reflect on our ski camp and focused on a gratitude letter. This can be a very emotional and heavy task for the young people to take on but is a great way to aid in further self-reflections. After this we headed to the Gym to have our last session, this was a great way to get the crew energised for the task ahead of them, Bike donations! Having an impromptu jam session, at Collingwood Alternative School. This was a great way to express ourselves and had time to see the students' hidden skills and perseverance. We soon moved on to the final task, our bike donations. Heading over to the local english language school we met 4 young people and let the crew take the lead in the donation process. All of our crew did amazingly making sure they properly taught and encouraged these young kids how to ride the bikes. This is a momentous day that we work towards, as these children are learning English as a second language here in Australia. These children relied on our crew to talk to them in respectful and understandable language, whilst knowing what levels they are able to learn at. Overall it was a highly effective and successful experience for all involved and the crew members involved in this donation should be very proud of what they have achieved.
On the second last day this week we focused on the moving on process. With the help of Sal, our boxing champion of a coach, we began the day with motivating the crew for the day ahead. He talked through the final aspects of mindset and how to integrate these developed skills into their schooling and everyday lives. Students additionally had a final one on one session with Sal in the ring utilising these focused upon aspects for their final time. After this we as a group took our lovely little bus for a clean up. Though not as fun as boxing, the crew all came together and quickly took care of the bus we have relied on this term, making sure to leave a sparkly finish. Once done we headed to Yarra youth services for the second last time this term. We all sat down and isolated the many fun and difficult parts of the program and what helped every individual. This reflection was then used to help fuel our speech writing which we would be needing for Friday.
Friday oh Friday…. Our last day. On Friday the staff of Operation Newstart headed down to Yarra Youth Services to spruce up the place we would hold our graduation ceremony. Once the time had come, the crew and family filed into space. All of the students did amazingly, all taking part in the ceremony and joining their audience in watching the final program video. We are extremely proud of this group and what they were able to achieve over these past few weeks. Thank you all for taking a chance on us and this program as I truly believe this will always be something to use and reflect on in the future. We wish you all the best! This program could not have been possible without all of you!
Finally I would also like to thank the city of Yarra for their financial support for the program.
