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Year 9 Student Strive For Success

Rachelle Kelly (Head of Learning Excellence and Engagement)

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” This was true for 116 Year 9 Strive students who, on Tuesday 5 March, embarked on an immersive excursion into the City of Rockingham where the aim was to investigate community issues, engagement and safety.  

Tasked with the challenge of finding a solution to the big question of “How can I make a positive impact in my local community?” the day of enquiry invited the Year 9 Strive students to engage with and learn from various local community members from the City of Rockingham Council, the Rockingham Youth Centre, the Rockingham Police station, and other local businesses. Practising their interviewing techniques, the students learned about the challenges being faced in Rockingham from the perspectives of a diverse range of people. The experience provided an authentic foundation for our students to solve real-world issues and work towards implementing thoughtful and positive solutions. 

Reimagined and renamed in 2024, Strive is one of three challenge-based courses offered at Kolbe across Years 7 – 9, with the others being “Ignite” in Year 7 and “Build” in Year 8. Underpinned by Kolbe’s “Capabilities for Life”, Strive aims to develop the essential skills and understandings that will help our learners navigate an increasingly complex world. Skills such as showing character, building citizenship, thinking critically and being creative, underpinned by high-level communication and collaboration, are the core elements of these courses. 

This excursion marked the beginning of a semester-long project for the Year 9 Strive students which will culminate in them creating a positive and measurable change in their local community. Ruby said the excursion, “helped us to see different perspectives of the issues in our local community,” and Jack shared that he, “learned a lot about how the City of Rockingham creates and runs events and programs.”

The Year 9 Strive students will now spend the rest of Term 1 and Term 2 ideating answers to the big question and challenge, delivering a pitch to College officials, and will finish with a formal presentation of their solution at a community expo. We are incredibly excited to see the imaginative solutions that our students come up with!

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