WALLAN Secondary College senior students gave up a night in their warm beds to help raise money for the St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria’s school sleep-out initiative.
For one night, a group of year 11 and 12 students, including staff, slept on concrete grounds outside classrooms, with sleeping bags and cardboard to replicate the rough conditions of homelessness.
Event coordinator Lauren Mozina said students ‘geared up for the night’, as the group ate leftovers from the school’s soup kitchen and played card games that helped students get to know their peers.
Ms Mozina said empathy was a huge takeaway from the cold night.
“The group of kids that did it were fantastic, they’re amazing kids, but it was the whole chatting between people and finding out more about someone – that was major,” she said.
“The fact you don’t know what someone’s going through, that was a big reality check for some of them to understand the students they hang out with every day, they have no idea in their class who’s going through that.”
The sleep-out was an extension of the school’s annual positive week – a week where the student leadership group chooses a theme, followed by several guest speakers, and a day for money to be raised for a charity related to the theme.
During term two’s positive week, Ms Mozina said homelessness was the theme, with school leaders participating in food banks and soup kitchens during lunchtimes.
With the cost-of-living having increased homelessness this year, Ms Mozina said senior students were at a mature age to grasp the concept and were given a presentation from Bridge Youth Service on services available.
“They’re at that age where they are making decisions for themselves, that all comes into it, whether you chose to live at home, or whether you can’t live at home, and when you get to that age, that’s when everything starts to change,” she said.
“It’s a good opportunity to give back, especially at the moment, no one has a lot, times are tough for everybody.
“But to know that one item you don’t need out our cupboard could go to feed someone else, that’s important.”
As well as raising $2502 for St Vincent de Paul, the school gave to the coat drive Off Your Back and donated non-perishable foods and personal items to Love in Action Wallan.
Ms Mozina said the school sleep-out was expected to continue next year as part of the school’s curriculum.
