Because they want to help is the simple reason why a group of Vincentia High School students are taking on the issue of homelessness.
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The group of Year Nine and 10 students realise they might be in for an emotional journey but they are determined to learn about the issue and hopefully come up with ways they can support people who have nowhere to live.
Their journey is the part of an English project based learning course for 2017 and Year 10 student Isaac Graham said the group had already planned a few ways they can help the homeless.
“We were originally going to look at youth homelessness but now we are tackling it (homelessness) as an overall issue,” he said.
“We are intending on doing a few things at the moment - like a food drive that will be getting non-perishables and getting clothing and basic toiletries for the homeless and we are also looking at doing a documentary which will involve some sort of social experiment.
“We haven’t not worked out details of the social experiment yet but we do have a few ideas.”
There will be a storybook and all the students will be asked to write a story to be based on homelessness.
From out a sad topic - the students want something that will create positivity.
“As a teacher I am just so proud of what these students are attempting.”
- Nicole Higgins
Year Nine student Zara O’Connor said the students had already learnt about local homelessness.
“I did not think homelessness was bad here in the Shoalhaven as it’s and I just thought it was a bad thing nationally,” she said
The whole group is committed to put all their energy into the project.
Teacher Nicole Higgins said because it’s project based learning they don’t know what sort of impact they will have or how successful they will be.
“Obviously we have great dreams of making a great impacts,” Ms Higgins said.
“As a teacher I am just so proud of what these students are attempting.”
The students were originally asked how they could be agents of change in their communities?
From there they workshopped on what needed to be changed and poverty was one of the topics that came up in the discussion
The students realised poverty was a large issue and something they could not tackle overnight and then the idea of homelessness came out.
Ms Higgins said the group then realised they did not have a huge handle on what local homelessness looked like.
“So we sent the students out to gather information and the idea is they have to use English to solve a problem and so we have had to think outside the box,” she said.
The students had put a pitch forward to Ms Higgins on their topic and then organised a recent forum.
They invited Mayor of Shoalhaven City Amanda Findley, Meg Dover and Ash Hudson from Salt Ministries and their school principal Steve Glenday to the forum.
“They found out what the local issues were and from there they have split into teams and I am just here to facility the bits and the pieces,” Ms Higgins said.
We will catch up with the students later in the school term to see now the project is going.