By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
STUDENTS from Gleneagles Secondary College will be embarking on a foreign adventure in little more than a week.
The 14 students from the Endeavour Hills school are taking part in a two-week World Challenge Expedition to Thailand from 13 September where they will help volunteer their time in local villages across the country.
Accompanying teacher Eugene Van der Westhuizen said this was the first time a group from Gleneagles took part in a World Challenge expedition in about two years.
“The school did it a couple of years ago, some students went to Cambodia and maybe Laos and it’s a really good leadership thing and we’ve been wanting to do that for a couple of years,” he said.
“We did a big drive at the end of last year gaining interest.
“This time around we’re going to Bangkok, some national parks in Thailand and we’ll be working on a project.
“We’ll be in a village doing building work.”
The students will be volunteering at a local educational centre in Thailand as a major part of their trip while also seeing the sights throughout Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Ayutthaya.
Mr Van der Westhuizen stressed that the idea of the World Challenge expedition was to put the students in charge and encourage them to lead activities.
“They’re exposed to different cultures and environments and the students lead all of it,” he said.
“As teachers we start it and talk about fundraising, they run it and we supervise.
“They’ve been doing all of it. That’s the point of World Challenge, getting them to make those decisions, that’s the whole focus.”
Student Shaira Bardien, who will be taking part in the expedition, said she was looking forward to travelling to Thailand and helping out at the local village.
“I’m excited but nervous, it’s the first time I’ve been away from home for a long period of time,” she said.
“The whole culture shock thing will be interesting.”
But Mr Van der Westhuizen said he had more than enough faith in the 14 students he will be accompanying.
“It is a really big program, we’re one of many schools that are doing this,” he said.
“It’s really important – we have a diverse culture within the school.
“The students need to be aware of how different the world is outside of what they have in Australia.
“These students will come back and push a lot more of these messages.
“It’s a real leadership thing.”
