The Certificate II Community Service students have had quite a year. With our incredible teacher Christine Menner, all of us have made wonderful progress. The Year 12 students in the course have completed their certifications and are now preparing to step into the next chapter of their lives. Our course integrated presentations, interactive activities, knowledge questions, projects and roleplays, which are all highly effective in offering valuable insights and practical experience in building our skills for both community service and work in the future. These have been fun, informative, and very valuable.

Our class has also been responsible for the collection of the 10c cans every fortnight which none of us expected to do. This was a very tasking activity! Nonetheless, it has allowed us to better understand the value of community service even in our everyday lives.

As a significant part of our course, we were also required to complete 20 hours of community service at a placement outside campus. For four Wednesdays we had the opportunity to go to Kulungah Myah Community Centre (KMCC) for this purpose as part of their Project Citizen youth engagement project.   KMCC is a community center with a kindergarten. This provided us with hands-on experience and the opportunity to give back.

We were able to assist with numerous jobs that aided in the center’s operations. We helped with gardening, raking, weeding, mulching and the general upkeep of their beautiful greenery. We also helped clean the playground, completed an audit of the toys, as well as cleaning the frequently used toys. We helped with general cleaning of the centre, which included the kitchen and windows. The most enjoyable task we did was when we helped to prepare the projects and activities for the kindergarten children. This included cutting, gluing, and laminating. It is evident that we’ve been able to engage in varying tasks and we have all really enjoyed this experience.

Aside from the volunteering work, this also served as a bonding experience for us; a nice change of scenery from the classroom where most of the time we are working individually, to a collaborative environment where we can interact and converse, forging new friendships and strengthening existing ones.

In summary, our course has been both enjoyable and informative.   It has been marked by significant learning, personal growth, community engagement and we all feel confident in applying all we have learned in the real world, a truly priceless experience!

Written by Ines Schira, Certificate II student at Northlake Senior Campus