By Jessica Anstice
The achievements of primary school students were recognised at the Rotary Club of Pakenham’s first-ever Rotary Junior Community Awards on Tuesday 3 December.
The program, new to the area, aims to engage Grade 6 students in four main areas of endeavour to be completed over the school year – community service, social experience, physical recreation and skill development.
Participating students, with the aid of teachers and parents designed a program they felt they could achieve and kept a diary of their progress.
Schools involved were Pakenham Springs Primary School, Lakeside College, St Patricks Primary School and John Henry Primary School.
“This program fits so beautifully with the core values of Rotary which is fellowship, leadership, integrity, diversity and service,” Rotary district 9820 governor Adrian Froggatt said.
“This program covers the making of good citizens of the future: good leaders, good community leaders, good participants and good people.
“At Rotary we like to work with kids and help them because we see that has building a future.”
Pakenham Springs Primary School assistant principal Renee Cotterell said she is “incredibly proud” of the students who took park in the program.
“I’ve got to work with an amazing group of Grade 6 students – I’ve seen them grow and develop their skills, knowledge, attitudes and ideas over the year,” Ms Cotterell said.
“I’ve also watched some really wonderful relationships develop between our students, the members of the school community, and members of the local community.
“Having families attend events such as the Pakenham Art Show, the Anzac Day show and exhibitions at Bunjil Place has been just great and it also just shows how this community is a wonderful place for families.”
Pakenham Springs Grade 6 student Scarlett Smith was thrilled to be part of the Rotary Junior Community Awards.
“I feel that it has been a great experience,” Scarlett said.
“We were fortunate to have been involved in this project and it has taught myself and my fellow schoolmates so many new things.
“We have learnt about how we can help out in our community, about the needs of others, to understand and respect people’s differences, the importance of being active and how we can learn new life skills.”
Reflecting on the year, Lakeside College Grade 6 student Joel Earle said he learnt “multiple lessons” throughout the program.
“I found areas very interesting and fun to do. This award has pushed me to my limits,” Joel said.
“At some points I thought that this was too hard and I should give up but my teachers were persistent and optimistic and pushed me across the line.
“I’ve made closer bonds with my friends around me because we’ve all come together and pushed ourselves hard and none of us were left behind.”
