"Being here on this camp makes me feel confident, strong..."

The Cathy Freeman Foundation Horizons Program gives students the opportunity to visit cities outside of their community, such as Darwin, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne. The program aims to show students all of the amazing things they can achieve when they come to school and work hard. Whilst on the camps, the aim is to educate and inspire students to feel confident, strong in culture and help them set goals for the future.

The first Horizons camp for 2018 was in Canberra and saw 16 Year 7 / 8 students from the Foundation’s partner communities - Palm Island, Woorabinda, Galiwin’ku and Wurrumiyanga - come together for a week of fun and learning!

Some of the deadly things the students did on the camp were:

• A visit to Parliament House where they met Minister Nigel Scullion.

• Met with inspiring Olympian Beki Smith. The only Aboriginal race walker in Australia, Beki competed in the 2018 Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast. The students spoke with Beki about working hard to achieve their dreams and goals.

• Workshops on how to feel empowered and confident and how to set goals for the future.

• A visit to the National Gallery and National Museum of Australia.

• Took part in an artwork competition to go on Starting Block Award basketball singlets.

"Being here on this camp makes me feel confident, strong and having no shame," said Shenzey from Palm Island who was chosen by her teacher to go on the camp based on her regular attendance and positive attitude in the classroom.