At the start of the 2010 school year, a group of young people at Caboolture, north of Brisbane, has a special message for students entering Year 12 and thinking ahead to Schoolies Week plans. ROBIN WILLIAMS reports
FORGET the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast as prime destinations to celebrate the end of school, some Year 12 students are opting to spend their money on “something a little bit different”.
Last year, four students from St Columban’s College, Caboolture, forked out $1300 each to travel to a remote area of Papua New Guinea and spend more than a week without even basic amenities let alone luxuries.
Phoebe Lepper said the trip to PNG was as good if not better than a Schoolies Week on the Gold or Sunshine coasts.
“I would say to Year 12 students keep your eyes open for something, anything a little bit different because you are going to remember it better and it is going to mean more to you in years to come,” she said.
Phoebe, who will study medicine at James Cook University in Townsville, said the trip was organised through the St Columban’s mission program.
She said while the trip included work on a youth centre and teaching computer skills it was about more than that.
“Mission isn’t just doing stuff but getting to know the people and helping them do things for themselves,” she said.
Phoebe, along with 2009 college captain Jacinta Donnelly and fellow Year 12 students Jessica Grundy and Sarah Camm, joined past St Columban’s graduates Matt Berry, Luke Collier, Alex Oderico and Cassie McCosker on the trip.
They left Australia on November 21, the day after graduation.
Trip organiser and St Columban’s campus minister Liz Palmer said dealing with extreme heat, basic food, doing without mobile phones or iPods, and having limited electricity was all part of the experience.
“We slept in a small area about the size of a normal kitchen,” Ms Palmer said.
She said the college has a continual mission program, started in 2007, to the Milne Bay area of Papua New Guinea.
“It is part of a six-year mission program with our college and the Alotau diocese,” she said.
“In 2007, twelve students and three staff visited PNG for the first time.
“In 2008, the college hosted 85 young people from the diocese for World Youth Day, and in 2009, another group of ten students visited the island nation.”
Ms Palmer said the idea of an alternative to Schoolies was first proposed in 2008, and she believed the trip had potential.
“The thought of doing something more has always been present in the hearts and minds of many of our students,” she said.
She said those students who went to PNG had given a great deal of time and energy to fundraising throughout the school and local community to make the dream a reality.
Ms Palmer said the students met regularly before the trip and were excited to be able to give something back.
“We had two projects – the first was helping Hagita Secondary School. Year 11 students get the best out of the computers donated (by AusAID) to the school.
“At the same time the four past St Columban’s College students worked alongside some of the local young people to build a much needed youth centre in the remote village of Upatau.”
