Year 8 students from Braidwood Central School have finalised their Links to Learning Program by launching education week on Monday the 1st August. The girls have been working throughout the first semester interviewing women from the local community to learn from their own life experiences and to receive some of their advice. They interviewed Mary Mathias, Kelly Sturgiss, Hellen Faulkner and Hollie B. To share their learning, they summarized all interviews and presented them to all of their female classmates from year 8 and year 9. The aim of the project was to empower young women and provide them with the advice Mary, Kelly, Hellen and Hollie gave them.
At the end of the presentation, the students prepared afternoon tea to share with their classmates. The students also gave a gift for all of the girls who participated. They all received a chocolate with a tag that had one of the advices from the women interviewed. Some of these advices they were given were ‘Do it, whatever makes you happy do it’, ‘Follow your dreams and strive for what you want’, ‘Don’t hang out with negative people’, ‘Don’t let people stop you doing what you want to do’, ‘Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever’, ‘Have fun and support each other’.
Southern Region BEC's Fernanda Astudillo Blanche, who facilitates the Links to Learning program said, “This was a beautiful learning experience for the Links to Learning Students. They got to listen to the knowledge women in Braidwood had and got to share it with their peers. They certainly remember the advice they were given and I believe they are already putting it into practice. I hope that in twenty years, these interviews take place again, only this time the girls who were interviewing will be interviewed by future Braidwood Central School girls.”
The Links to Learning Program is funded by the NSW Government and administered by the NSW Department of Education. Southern Region Business Enterprise Centre (BEC) delivers the program to the students at Braidwood Central School one day a week. The program aims to enhance the development of students' self-esteem, confidence and resilience, improve their ability to manage themselves and their relationships with others, help them develop a sense of purpose and aspirations for their future.
