Students donate to vital research
Ararat secondary students are using creativity and hands-on skills to raise money for some of the community’s most vulnerable members.
Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning, VCAL, students at Marian College have raised more than $2500 to go towards research into Motor Neurone Disease, MND. The school will donate money to MND Australia.
Students created their own products such as candles, coffee tables, keychains and earrings for a school market, as part of an employability skills project.
VCAL teacher Dani Smith said students would continue raising money for the cause through a student coffee shop project.
“To continue raising money, the VCAL students are opening what we call Cafe 17. They will make and deliver coffees for staff on Tuesdays, with all proceeds going to MND,” she said.
Mrs Smith said students chose to donate to MND Australia after they saw the impact of the disease on an Ararat
resident. “We have a community member who was recently diagnosed with MND and our year-12 students chose the cause this year for that specific reason,” she said.
“It gives them a sense of contributing to a local community member and a family.”
Mrs Smith said skills students
gained from participating in the project would majorly benefit their future employability.
“They’re selling a product for a charity, but they’re also walking away with a folio they can show prospective employers,” she said.
Learning support officer Wayne Dickinson said students
also learned the value of giving back to their community.
“When you think you can’t do something, you actually can,” he said.
“It gives you the power to be proactive in your community.”