Transformative Experiences
Each year, our Senior Students have the opportunity to embark on an incredibly formative experience in our Immersion or Outreach Program.
This character-building Program is designed to broaden the perspectives of our students through helping those less fortunate than us. The value of service is a hallmark of our Lasallian character and one that brings joy to others as well as fulfilment for ourselves.
Students travel as an accompanied group to Indigenous communities locally or interstate, or to impoverished Lasallian schools and communities in Thailand and Fiji.
From Year 10, our students can choose to participate in the following Immersions and Outreach experiences:
– Indigenous Immersion to Balnarring and Point Nepean, VIC
– Indigenous Immersion to Broome and Derby, WA
– Outreach Tour to Thailand
– Outreach Tour to Fiji
“Upon arriving in Balgo, we were greeted and welcomed by the Principal, Ms Smith. We stayed at Luurnpa Catholic Primary School in spare classrooms.
We met and interacted with the Elders, and joined children on a field trip to a sacred site. During our stay, we noticed a large increase in school attendance, which resulted in more learning and the intellectual growth in the students; this strengthens their potential in the future.
One evening, we went out to ‘The Pound’; under the stars, in the open sky. We indulged in some homemade damper, kangaroo tail and frog. It was at this point we began to realise that Balgo’s Indigenous peoples – who in comparison to all of us – live in such poverty, and are yet so happy with what they have. It just makes you think to yourself, how much do I really need?
Balgo is such a brilliant community, shown through their love and passion for their culture, their warm welcome for visitors and their enormous love for Australia Rules Football.
The experiences and interactions we had with the students collectively broadened our perspective – not only on how much we impacted these children’s lives – but how much they impacted ours. Our trip was enormously fulfilling and will stay with us forever.” Flynn
“My personal highlight was spending quality time with the Blue Sky Home girls, whom we created strong bonds and relationships with, but also all the students at the Lasalle School.
Together, we overcame language barriers to create relationships with the students, played games and organised activities to ensure all of us had a memorable experience, learning about our various cultures. This summarises the purpose of the trip, as we volunteered to give up our school holidays to benefit the lives of these children. We helped in their classrooms and also by building a concrete road, our working project that ultimately brought us all closer together.” Sebastian
