I have been thinking upon what we would like to see as a volunteering profile for a Year 10 student at Scotch?

Based on the experiences of 3 students and their goals for the year in this fundamental area of Scotch life, I have written a narrative to give you insight into how students think about and learn from their service experiences. 

If you have a service idea for Scotch students to participate in or would like me to work with your student to become engaged in service activities, please reach out twallace@scotch.sa.edu.au – I hope you enjoy the reading!

Tracey Wallace
Service Learning Coordinator

We are 8 weeks into 2021 and I am proud that I am adhering to my New Year’s resolution of engaging in more service learning. I am actively sharing my skills and passions with those in my community.

I’m a Year 10 Scotchie which means I’ve already had the opportunity to participate in the Kickstart for Kids breakfast program. Under Mr Bennett’s watchful eye, my friends and I prepared and served breakfast to primary students at Clovelly Park Primary school. Yes mum, I even washed up the dishes!

Being passionate about literacy, I am most excited at being a Buddy in The Smith Family’s Student 2 Student reading program again. I will support a younger Reader to improve their reading confidence in a stress-free fun way. Last year, when my reading buddy and I started the program, he was 3 years behind in his reading. I listened to him read, over the phone, 3 times a week for 18 weeks. He really appreciated getting in some ‘sneaky’ extra reading practice where there was no risk of being embarrassed and allowed him to be more confident when at school.

My reading buddy no longer needs the S2S program – he is a confident reader. We did that together. That fills me with pride!

In Year 10 we have our first taster of the SACE by taking the first compulsory subject – the Personal Learning Plan (PLP). I must admit, I have been guilty of equating ‘compulsory’ with ‘boring’. This certainly isn’t the case for PLP! The PLP is already helping me plan for my future. So how does this link to me New Years Resolution? Well, I know that being out of my comfort zone and learning new skills is beneficial. I’ve recently developed an appreciation of caffeine; I think it’s a rite of passage to senior schooling. I recently did a barista course. Wanting to share my new skills through service, lead me to The Salvation Army.  A few fellow Scotchies and I are working with Reno Elms from the Unley Salvation Army to develop a new service opportunity. We will volunteer in the Salvos café and consolidate new my skills. Win-win! With part-time work on my radar, the experience I gain serving Salvo’s clients will be invaluable. Not to mention the wide array of people I will meet while serving up delicious hot beverages.

For the service component of my Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award, I am sharing my musical talent with elderly citizens at my local Aged Care Home. I receive numerous song requests as I play the piano on Sunday afternoons.

FYI: The other components of the Duke of Ed Award – physical recreation, skills and the adventurous journey, I have covered by the wide curricular and co-curricular offering we receive at Scotch.

As the year progresses, I am confident more service opportunities will unfold – they always do. These may be once off events such as the annual Hutt Street Centre’s ‘Walk a Mile in my Boots’ supporting those experiencing homelessness. The Camp Kickstart programs are popular among Scotchie mentors during the school holidays. Maybe I’ll build my courage to take on the Ration Challenge again during Refugee week this year. I still can’t face chick peas though!

Scotch certainly makes it easy to adhere to my New Year’s Resolution of more service learning.