The students, on Friday, graduated from  TAFE NSW Nowra’s IPROWD (Indigenous Police Recruitment Our Way Delivery) course.

No matter what they do in the future, the students Janice Lisa Morris, Gabrielle Rae-Gordon, Matthew Hansen, Dean Christiansen, Nick Darlington, Allira Giles-Gregory, Karen Herbert, Amy Lewis-Keating, Chloe Mitchell and Janice Morris will achieve great things.

As they sat together at Friday’s graduation at the Nowra TAFE Campus you could see these outstanding students had become friends and learnt much during their studies.

Dean Christiansen enjoyed taking part in IPROWD.

“I learnt a lot of things and got to meet a lot of new people - yeah it was good,” the 19-year-old said.

Joining the police force is something the former Nowra Public School student had been thinking about for some time.

“I just always wanted to help people and make a difference,” he said.

“The program was good and some of the fitness sessions were hard and the workload was big as well.

“However, we all stuck together and got through it.”

Dean said he was pleased he finished the course.

“We are all now thinking about where we want to go after this,” he said.

Allira Giles-Gregory also enjoyed the course.

“It was good that we learnt new things and met people who want to do the same things,” the 22-year-old said.

“I’m definitely looking at joining the police force and I want to join because I want to be a good role model for my community members.

“It’s good to go back to my community and show them we can do great things.

“I am definitely proud of myself. I never thought I would be that great of a role model but I have accomplished a few things now in my life.”

Allira is originally from Broome and at the moment lives in Kiama.

Dean said he would recommend IPROWD program to others.

“If you always wanted to be a leader or make a difference in your community then  IPROWD is something you should look into,” Dean said.

Allira also recommends the program.

“If you are up for a challenge and you are 100 per cent motivated to join the police force then it (IPROWD) will really help you and it’s really beneficial,” she said.

Sergeant Sharlene Martin and Senior Constable Mike Roberts had a lot to do with the IPROWD students.

“They are motivated, dedicated and committed to the program,” Sgt Martin said to describe the students.

Sgt Martin said the students were all committed to making a difference.

She added they would all make good police officers.

“I think this gives them a basic grounding to join the force. Mike and I are particular in the way we do the policing subjects and I feel we are giving them a good insight into what they will go through at the academy,” she said.

“Like with anything, preparation is the key and if they are prepared when they down to the academy then it’s certainly going to help them achieve their goals.”

When Senior Constable Roberts took the students it was for personal training sessions.

“I was just trying to get their fitness levels up and build up some resilience,” he said.

He said the student did some decent road-runs and body-weighted work.

“They all come along really well and they absolutely rose to the challenge,” Senior Constable Roberts said.

This year marks 10 years of Indigenous Policing Recruitment Our Way Delivery (IPROWD) in NSW.  It has been run at Nowra since 2011.

Nowra and Dubbo were the two areas that were chosen to run the IPROWD TVET course.

IPROWD is run via a formal partnership between the Dept of Prime Minister and Cabinet, TAFE NSW , Charles Sturt University and NSW Police Force. IPROWD is one of the strategies for the NSW Police Aboriginal Employment Strategy.

76 students from around NSW have successfully gained employment with the NSW Police.

Some examples from Nowra are Constable Daniel Keating-Lewis who is stationed in Bowral and Chloe Hannan-Irvine who is at Wollongong.

This course is designed to help students prepare for the entry requirements of the University Certificate in Workforce Essentials and the Constable Education Program / Associate Degree in Policing Practice offered by Charles Sturt University at the NSW Police Academy. Students obtain a Certificate III Vocational and Study Pathways. While they complete the course they also increase their fitness levels with two sessions of fitness each week, gain typing, first aid and swim certificates and have access to complete medical assessments.

IPROWD students are supported to look for other employment while they wait to finalise the Police recruitment process, or to support students who are seeking employment in other areas.

10 students commenced IPROWD this year and nine will graduated.

TAFE NSW Nowra teacher Helen Simpson has been coordinated the course since its inception. She has made a passionate and personalised contribution to the success of this course over that time.