Year 7 Community in Action

Across two busy days at the end of the year, Year 7s volunteered to make our community a better place with the Veritas program Community in Action.

“The Year 7s enjoyed these days because they were interactive and they got to choose what activities they would like to do. My group did Christmas cooking for Bendigo Foodshare. We made mince pies and cinnamon shortbread, then packaged them nicely to make people happy. We also made food hampers and posters to promote the donation campaign.” Sammi Kelly

“In my group, community action was about writing letters of appreciation for health care. We studied our local health care and we watched videos about their heroic actions. Our letters went to local health care areas and programs, like Bendigo Health. Year 7s wrote to surgeons, paramedics, GPs and vaccination workers to thank them for their wonderful actions.” Aiden Butler

“For our Community Action we were building bird boxes for Junortoun Landcare Group. The boxes were for birds, possums, and bats. We made them with nails and screws, then painted them bluestone grey for camouflage in the high trees, I think. There were about forty of us all working and Mr Driscoll tried to explain it to everyone. It was fun but sometimes we messed up and had to take all the nails out.” Lainey Polson

“Over two days we made videos for the Orientation Day. The videos explained things we wished we knew at the start of Year 7 and the videos will be passed on to the new Year 7s. Some videos explained where classrooms were, who people are and what subjects they would do. We had two days to write and make a video, in groups or by ourselves. The videos had pictures and music and voiceovers. Some bits were hard, but it was good.” Patrick Feiss

“Three students handed over the letters on behalf of all the writers on Friday. We all hope the Christmas season brings peace and joy to the Bendigo Health staff, and the letters remind them how much they are appreciated, by everyone.” Mr Alistair Killick

“In our group, together we learnt about the work that Share the Dignity do, both locally and nationwide, to help address period poverty. Students researched the reasons why girls, women and those who menstruate find themselves homeless and how the ‘It’s in the Bag’ campaign helps to address some of the challenges experienced by them. Bags were checked and packed, with students ensuring they all contained the ‘essentials’ for teens. They created cards to include in the bags with a paper crane on them, to represent compassion and peace. Together we collated over 25 bags which will go to those in need this Christmas.” Mrs Jenni McGrath