Students from Kooringal, Lake Albert, and Sturt public schools attended their first session of the CoS We Care program at Kooringal High School. Photo: Jarryd Rowley.
Kooringal High School students will soon be offering mentorship to students at several nearby primary schools.
More than 100 Kooringal High School students from Year 7 to 12 will be working alongside Year 3 and 4 students from Kooringal, Lake Albert, and Sturt public schools as part of the CoS (Community of Schools) We Care program.
The program aims to have the primary school students identify and solve a problem within the community and look at means to overcome the problem over the next 12 weeks.
The primary students will report back to their mentors across the next three months, who will help put their ideas into practice.
Once the 12-week program concludes, the teams will present their ideas to local industry leaders in hopes that they will be adopted and implemented.
Kooringal High School High Potential Gifted Education Coordinator Sarah Carter said the program was about trying to get students to care for the community.
“Our communities of schools are providing opportunities for students to work through the design thinking process to solve issues that really matter to our community,” she said.
“These programs are important because there are always issues in our community that need solving, and a lot of the time, our young people have ideas around what needs to happen with those issues, because at the end of the day, these are things that are going to affect them in the future.
“We wanted to provide as a high school resources and support mentorship, so these students who may not know what’s possible yet can have that insight and that support to actually make a positive change in our community.”
Two of the Kooringal High School students taking part in the mentorship program are Jazz Phillips and Anna Raine.
The pair said they were excited to work alongside students at the schools they once attended and admitted they were jealous of not having similar programs when they were younger.
“It’s really cool to be able to give back to the community and to some of the city’s younger kids,” Jazz said.
“I’m excited about being a part of it and helping them learn more and help them create whatever they end up thinking of.”
“I would have really liked something similar to this when I was younger,” Anna said.
“A lot of the younger kids, they care about their friends and families, but by doing something like this, we can help them look at the community and identify some of the bigger things they can care for.”
The primary school students will pitch their ideas to industry leaders in June.
