INDIGENOUS students from Good Shepherd Catholic College had a chance to strengthen their resilience and cultural identity as part of the Indigenous Youth Development Program (IYDP).
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The program is a scholarship facilitated by the Catholic Education Office in Townsville.
Organiser Janelle Knack said the scholarship fostered the hopes and dreams of Indigenous students.
“It’s a program that helps with students’ aspirations in three areas, so it’s a scholarship that covers the arts, academic achievement, and sport,” Ms Knack said.
“The students have been chosen from those three areas, and mostly on aspirations rather than the skills that they already have.
“We give them the skills that we hope will help them continue towards those aspirations.”
Ms Knack said it was essential for teachers to assist students in fostering resilience.
“As educators we’re very good at gauging smartness in schools, but are we good at gauging strong students?
“Today’s school students, to go through and reach year twelve attainment, need to have skills to stay strong and resilience, because as we know you get into school and it just gets harder and harder,” she said.
The 10 students who attended the workshop were taken through various activities designed to strengthen ties to their cultures.
These workshops included Torres Strait Island dances with Gail Mabo, as well as Aboriginal dance lessons with Shaun Major and Aboriginal art classes with Sheree Blackley.
The grade seven to nine students also had a chance to become news crews for the day, creating videos about how to bounce back when the going gets tough.
Teacher Tammi Webber said the videos would be used to show other Good Shepherd students how their peers cope with pressure.
“They’re like little vignettes of what resilience means to them and how to be strong emotionally and culturally and socially,” Ms Webber said.
Katter Australia Party Member for Mount Isa Rob Katter said it was essential for light to be shed on the positive things young people in Mount Isa were doing.
“The spotlight can be put on the bad outcomes that happen around town, but there’s a lot of good work that goes into our youth,” Mr Katter said.
“Today, giving some attention to kids who have great potential in our community, and I think it’s important to recognise that this work happens a lot.”
The program was funded by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Funding covering North Queensland has been extended to the end of the school year in 2017.
