Congratulations to our 2018 OELLEN VCAL Achievement Award Recipients!
The Senior VCAL Achievement Award was presented to Amber Johnson, a student at Mater Christi College
Amber was described as an outstanding leader of the senior VCAL team across all disciplines, excelling in communication, initiative, planning and organising , teamwork and problem solving.
She demonstrated outstanding personal achievement across all VCAL Strands and enlisted the assistance of her intermediate VCAL peers for her senior project, sourcing and crocheting Octopuses for premature babies in support of “Octopus for a Preemie”, a world-wide movement dedicated to knitting and crocheting octopuses and jellyfish for premature babies. She created a template for the construction of the Octopuses and demonstrated step by step how to make the crocheted animals.
Her skills and achievements were also evident in her role as CEO of the small business initiative ‘Roar Espresso’ and promotion of the Emerald/Monbulk Wildlife Centre across the whole school community.
The Intermediate VCAL Achievement Award went to Elaya Carbone, who is completing her VCAL Certificate at Monbulk College.
Elaya also demonstrated outstanding personal achievement across all VCAL Strands. She earned the respect of teachers and colleagues alike for her vision and dedication. She was instrumental in developing the “Commonwealth Games” activity for the Menzies Creek Primary School and helped fellow students to plan and organise the event and drew up the timetable for the day. In addition, Elaya ran the kitchen for the Veteran’s breakfast, using her planning and organising skills to work out the teams, create the menu and budget, and managed the running of the kitchen on the day. She was also a key organiser of the Mental Health Fair which took place in Term 3. She organised student groups, sourced external stall providers, organised the ticketing system and took on the role of Master of Ceremonies for the event.
The VCAL Community Project Team Achievement Award was given to Lilydale Heights College students Breanna Bowers, Brent Norfolk, Chelsea Austin, Graham Burdett, John Lay and Kyle St Clair for their Redwood Community Centre Project. The students visited the facility and after gaining insight into the programs and support services being provided, investigated ways in which they could offer support through a VCAL Community Project. From this, the students undertook to run the annual winter clothing drive and to refurbish the playground area. To achieve this, the students needed to work collaboratively as a team and allocate roles according to their individual skills.
Refurbishment of the playground required re-mulching to required safety levels and sanding and staining the equipment and cubby house. Students ran formal meetings and kept minutes, allocated tasks, planned travel and excursions to Redwood adhering to all school protocols, organized bark delivery and the purchase of paint and materials.
Planning and implementing the coat drive required creation of a poster for social media, websites and businesses to encourage donations of clothing, liaison with local businesses to act as drop off points, and picking up, sorting, washing and delivering donations on a regular basis. It was the most successful coat drive for Redwood Community Centre.
Through successfully completing their project they demonstrated outstanding achievement in teamwork, communication skills, problem solving and initiative.
Cubby house after stain.
