JourneyOnline
A Uniting Church Foundation program supporting Year 10 Indigenous students to fulfil their educational potential is going from strength to strength. Journey reports.
Two more Indigenous students have been helped to pursue their vocational goals, thanks to a second round of grants from the Uniting Church Foundation’s $10 for 10 Appeal.
The Indigenous Learning Pathways project was launched in 2014 in association with the Queensland Synod Schools and Residential Colleges Commission to support Year 10 students in Uniting Church schools to access further education and training.
“It is encouraging that the wider Uniting Church community has taken the mission area of Indigenous education to heart,” says Synod fundraising manager Raushen Perera. “The continued support has enabled more young people to undertake training that will have a significant impact on their ability to fulfil their dreams.”
Moreton Bay College student Caitlin Ramsay wants to become a software engineer, and the grant will be utilised for study resources and to support her attendance at a national computer science summer school.
“It will give me an insight into what it is like to work in an IT-based career,” says Caitlin. “I will also be able to build a network of friends who have similar interests and goals.”
Helen Watson, a boarder at Clayfield College in Brisbane, will use the grant to help fund her involvement in the Edmund Rice Independent Living Skills (Nutrition and Wellbeing) program. The program includes exposure to the childcare industry within an Indigenous setting.
“This will allow me to complete training that will give me the ability to obtain childcare qualifications when I leave school,” says Helen.
“I hope to learn how to look after babies and young children so that I can go back to Palm Island and work with the young children of my community.”
Raushen Perera is excited by the potential of the $10 for 10 Appeal.
“We should never underestimate the power of modest amounts donated by people coming together because they care. We all know that Indigenous disadvantage is a huge issue, but this is a way that we can provide concrete opportunities for individual children and their families that will have an ongoing impact on the Australian community.”
To learn more or donate to the $10 for 10 Appeal, visit missionpossible.ucaqld.com.au
