Let's Expand Our Horizons
We are excited to roll-out a new component to the Horizons Program, which includes pre-camp activities for teachers, students and families of attending students. This new aspect of the program was proudly designed by program staff across all partner communities and aims to increase interaction between students attending the camps as well as the broader community before each camp.
Horizons focuses on creating a greater sense of self-esteem, confidence and goal setting skills by bringing students together from all four partner communities on a week-long trip to a metropolitan city. The program includes educational and cultural activities that help students feel proud with a focus on building positive self-esteem and setting goals for the future.
Highlights from this year include camps to Sydney and Melbourne. Both groups embraced learnings from the week, and also brought their own strengths to the program by making key decisions themselves. Some of the camp activities included team building and confidence-building workshops, a Sydney Harbour Bridge climb and leading The Long Walk march for the AFL Dreamtime at the G footy game in Melbourne.
At the end of the trip, the students made powerful statements of what they dream of for their future and some even had the courage to say it out loud in front of their peers. We thought we’d share some of these with you:
“I want to graduate Year 12 and get my own car and house. The Cathy Freeman Foundation has helped me with my dreams, culture, being brave, having a good education, being proud of myself.” Lendell, Palm Island
“My dream is to be a footy player, have a good job and own a house. To achieve my dream I need lots of training, to be fit, eat healthy and work hard. This camp I made new friends from Elcho and Woorabinda. I learnt how to be confident.” John, Wurrumiyanga
“When I grow up I want to be a ranger on Elcho Island and drive the big boat. To get to my dream I will need to study and get my license. This camp made me brave and I made new friends.” Ethina, Galiwin’ku
“My dream is to finish school and study astrophysics at the University of Queensland, in Brisbane. The reason I want to be an astronomer is because there is a galactic world in space that needs to be explored, and when you look at the stars it makes you crave knowing more about space and the secrets within it.” Vera, Woorabinda
