Authentic Community Partnerships

St Augustine’s College VCE Vocational Major (VCE VM) students have engaged in a 10-week Youth Take Over challenge facilitated by College staff Mrs Bianca Moore and Mr Peter Fawcett and Campaspe Cohuna LLEN Project Officer, Debbie Rogerson. The mutually beneficial project involves partnering with local disability support service, VIVID, to design promotional material to raise brand awareness within and beyond the local community. 

Of the 18 students undertaking the VCE VM in 2024, it is hoped during Terms 2 and 3, St Augustine’s will have 5 students undertake a Work Experience placement with VIVID Kyabram; further strengthening the partnership between the two local organisations. 

With the provision of outstanding mentors at VIVID, the 10-week initiative is affording the senior students the opportunity to learn about various career pathways within the community service sector and learn about VIVID as a prospective employer. At the completion of the program, it is the intention of Mrs Moore and Mr Fawcett to continue working with VIVID (Kyabram and Echuca) to participate in activities that allow students to continue their new-found friendships with VIVID clients.

The project officially launched on 10 May with a barbeque hosted at VIVID Kyabram, which gave the VCE VM students an opportunity to experience VIVID's community spirit and interact with VIVID's employees and clients. The aim was to gain an understanding of the organisation and collate data from the local community to establish some goals and establish a “brief of recommendations” for VIVID’s administration to consider implementing. The results of a community survey and student on-site visits has led to the designing of appropriate marketing material for the local organisation to use to foster awareness within the community. The opportunity for problem-solving, networking, and creating and refining will be significant throughout the course of the project, with the end products eagerly awaited!