A group of 23 Year 12 students chose the positive alternative Service Trip that Avondale School provides rather than taking part in a traditional ‘Schoolies’. Even though it meant they had to meet at school at the unearthly hour of 3.15am to head off to the airport for their service trip, those 23 students did it with a smile on their dial and ended up having the trip of a lifetime.
We all have choices and it truly warms our hearts as educators and ‘pseudo-parents’ when our students, our HSC graduates, make such wise choices. In conjunction with the Restore One Charity, our Year 12’s flew to Cambodia for 12 nights in November to make a positive difference in other people’s lives. The first couple of days gave students a context of what the Cambodian people went through during the Pol Pot dictatorship era. They visited sites like S21 and the Killing Fields to give an understanding of the atrocities that took place at that time.
The students then moved to the middle of Cambodia to help at the Restore One School in Kompong Thmar. Here they painted toilets, taught English lessons, created bamboo roofing to hold the insulation in the roofs, ran an athletics carnival, taught in the pre-school, made a storage room, painted and built shelves for the school, built a cubby house and completed many other odd jobs to support the school and community over there. A highlight for the students was the opportunity to cook a meal for a family in the village. It was a real eye-opener for our students and a lovely value add for the families in the village. I believe both the families and the students learned a lot from this experience.
The last two days saw the students in Siem Reap visiting the APOPO ‘Hero Rats’ that help discover hidden land mines, exploring the Angkor Wat Temples (including where Tomb Raider was filmed), watching a cultural acrobatics circus and of course engaging in a little bit of retail therapy in the markets. Overall the students enjoyed the trip and not only created some lifelong memories but also learnt some life lessons. Mahatma Gandhi said that the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. Our Year 12’s definitely did that and we are truly proud of them and the way they stepped up, stepped out and pushed past their comfort zones on so many levels, all in the name of service to others. What a great choice our students made and what a difference it made in other people's lives.
Thank you to our Year 12 Graduates for following the directive given in 1 Peter 4:10-11 - "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms…" We wish our Class of 2023, Year 12 Graduates all of God’s blessings as they continue serving others like they have learnt during their time at Avondale School.
Mrs Hayley Ferris
Head of Secondary
Type on the line above then press the Enter/Return key to submit a new search query
