A great opportunity

Julie:

There are many great moments in this job but some are especially wonderful. Recently I was asked if I knew of any scholarships for Indigenous students to go away for their senior years of high school study. 3 girls in Hillston wanted to go to Kinross-Walaroi school (run by the Uniting Church) in Orange.
When I rang the school I was delighted to hear that they are very keen to get students such as these and go to extraordinary lengths to make it happen. In fact the Registrar wanted to meet the girls and their parents as soon as possible.

So with some financial help from the church’s Rural Support Services to pay for accommodation and meals, 8 of us set off for Orange to check out the school and talk about the possibilities. After an afternoon touring the school the girls spent the night in the boarding house while the mothers and I had an evening in a nearby motel. Everyone was very impressed with the facilities and the helpfulness of the school.

A most successful trip and it looks like 2 of the girls will start after the October holidays and the other next year. And of course Hillston is such a small town that everyone knew what was going on almost before I did and there has been tremendous support from other town members with people offering cars to drive to Orange etc. It has been a great experience all round and I am hoping that the level of support will continue to help these young women gain the most from this opportunity.