Year 10 Students Commit to Community Service
Community Service is the offering of our time and effort to assist those in need. For students in a Catholic school, learning about social justice does not occur only in the class room. Practical, ‘hands on’ experiences of social justice make it real for our students and therefore is a significant way of making it relevant to them. As a pledge to this level of education, St Patrick’s is committed to an effective Community Service experience for our girls.
In the past, our Year 10 girls have undertaken Community Service for one week in term 4. This year, to ensure that every student is able to participate in an authentic service experience, Community Service occurs on Tuesdays between 1:00pm and 3:00pm throughout each term. Year 10 has been divided into four groupings so that one of the groups goes out to Community Service each term. In this way, there is greater opportunity for the College to build relationships with the broader community through outreach. There is also the opportunity to encourage the students’ ongoing commitment to community service beyond their one term experience.
In Term 1, we completed community service at Carrington Centennial Care in Camden. The first week of community service we had a briefing session at school where we decided which place we would go to. We chose Carrington. We arrived at Carrington the following week and went through an orientation that prepared us for the next 6 weeks. For the rest of the week we were excited but nervous about starting our first week. When we arrived we went to our designated area. We met the recreational officers who would be in charge of us. We experienced many different emotions entering each week. One of our favourite weeks during the experience was when we got to play mini golf with some of the residents. We also were able to do some art with a resident who told us about her family. During the 6 weeks we were able to talk to some of the other residents and they were interested in our school and some of them were telling us stories about their life. Overall our experience at Carrington was both memorable and enjoyable. We experienced many different emotions and nothing could prepare us for what we were to experience.
By Abby and Nadine
In Term 1, we sent the first group of our Year 10 girls to 7 venues in the Campbelltown and Camden areas. The feedback from these venues has been very positive. They have expressed an appreciation for and the value of our girls having regular weekly contact with the people they serve. Our Term 1 Community Service girls received favourable evaluations from their supervisors and for this, they have been a credit to themselves, their parents and to the entire St Patrick’s community.
Mr Angelo Gattone, Mission Coordinator
