Good citizens

By Kelly Yates
NARRE Warren South P-12 College students have once again paid it forward to those in need.
Since 2006, the school’s Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) program has raised $18,800 for a range of causes and charities.
This year the school has collected $4,800.
During a cheque presentation last Thursday, the school handed over $1500 to Tyler Fishlock, a young boy who has lost both eyes to a rare form of cancer, $1500 to the Narre Warren Fire Brigade and $1800 to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal.
Back in March, the VCAL students donated a day’s pay from their structured workplace learning to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal and in May they hosted a Bushfire Benefit Concert for more than 300 people to raise some much-needed funds for the Narre Warren Fire Brigade.
The VCAL students also organised the AND1 – Tyler Fishlock Basketball Day, a competition for the students to come together to play in a tournament to help collect funds to support Tyler.
Tyler’s mother Georgette, a well-known advocate for carers’ rights, said she would put the money towards buying an $11,000 computer program, compatible with Tyler’s Braille computer, which will enable him to draw and feel pictures.
The school has supported Tyler since 2006, raising a total of $7,500 in that time to assist with his education expenses.
Year 11 student Brittany Fox said she enjoyed working as a team to raise the money.
“It has been a great experience to work together with the VCAL students to achieve something real and that means so much to so many people,” she said during the cheque presentation.
Mr Duncan congratulated the students and VCAL staff on what he described as an “amazing effort”.
“Some of the most important things you can learn at school are how to be a good citizen, how to work as part of a team, how to assist those less fortunate, and how to set a goal and achieve it,” he said.
“These things are at least as important, if not more so, than getting a good grade. Our VCAL students have been putting these things into practice and they should all be extremely proud of their efforts in making their community that much better.”