BY WENDY MORAN
At Pacific Hills Christian School, we are an educational community of teaching learning and service excellence. Our students are encouraged to serve others and to extend their helping hands beyond the gates of our own school yard.
Schoolies done differently was an exciting venture for some of our graduating 2023 Year 12 cohort to mark the completion of their school journey. Our students were invited to participate in a special mission project in partnership with Scripture Union and the Pacific Island Christian School in Vanuatu.
On 26th November our team of Year 12 students and staff departed for the shores of Vanuatu to lend a helping hand across a range of service activities including teaching, practical work in areas of need and contributing to the local community.
The time our students spent with their peers at the Pacific Island Christian School in Bene, East Santos, Vanuatu was transformative as they encountered a different culture and school that does not have the same access to resources that many Australian schools have. Our students learned gratitude from the Vanuatu children and have gained new perspectives on life.
Our students and staff loved helping with some specialised projects at the school. They got their paintbrushes out and helped to paint the new kindergarten classroom. They ran a mini-Olympics for the school and conducted a flat bread making class. Our students felt privileged to be able to have this opportunity. Upon their departure they donated an assortment of resources such as storybooks that would further support the school in Vanuatu.
The Vanuatu mission trip was also a lot of fun as our students spent time with their new friends enjoying meals together, swimming, singing, and getting their ‘game on’ with loads of games.
Students are always impacted by these mission trips. They get the chance to walk a mile in the shoes of others and to share a journey that profoundly changes them. Schoolies done differently was a fresh and innovative way of marking the completion of their school years, and no doubt a memorable way to do schoolies.
