By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
A CRANBOURNE high school has won a prestigious university competition for the second year in a row.
Cranbourne East Secondary College was crowned the winner of the 2014 Monash University Casey Challenge event in December, having also claimed the honours in 2013.
Now in its second year, the challenge provides year nine and 10 students from across Casey with the opportunity to experience university life by attending lectures, touring the grounds and working on assignments at Monash’s Berwick campus.
This year more than 80 students took part in the initiative from schools including Alkira, Cranbourne East, Narre Warren South P-12 and Maranatha Secondary Colleges.
Mayor Mick Morland congratulated the Cranbourne East Secondary College students who claimed the top prize for their assignment project.
“The judges commended Cranbourne East for their creativity, in-depth research and great teamwork to produce a great assignment,” he said.
“The winning students were presented with gift cards and a perpetual cup, which will reside with the winning school for the next year.”
Cr Morland said the awards ceremony was held to celebrate the challenge program’s success.
“In conjunction with Monash University, the City of Casey designed this program to provide further opportunities for young people to explore pathways into tertiary education,” he said.
“Students in this region have significantly lower levels of tertiary education than greater Melbourne and this project was designed to expose students to what university would be like in the hope of raising their aspiration levels.
“This program is especially beneficial for students who may not have considered university as an option for them and now see it as a future goal.”
The challenge ran for six weeks and students were able to experience university life with the help of tertiary students.
