Children at PCYC’s WOLF camp at Mystery Bay in February 2024. Around 100 young people have attended WOLF camps. Photo: Marion Williams.
A pilot program in Moruya is offering students alternative pathways to training and employment.
It has broad backing from schools, local businesses, the community and not-for-profits.
For eight weeks, 17 students from Far South Coast high schools are leaving the classroom one day a week to learn fundamental workplace skills and gain micro-qualifications.
The students also meet local businesses from a range of industries, including tourism and hospitality. That opens doors to opportunities they would not have otherwise easily accessed.
It is all happening in the brightly coloured Creative Tech Hub that opened last year.
The program is the evolution of a PCYC-led initiative called WOLF. WOLF, which stands for wisdom, opportunity, learn and friendship, started in the Eurobodalla and Bega Valley shires in early 2024.
Originally PCYC Far South Coast club manager Jacqui Filby visited schools and asked teachers which students would most benefit from WOLF.
The students joined a camp at Mystery Bay Cottages to learn life skills, build resilience and connect with nature. Aunty Loretta Parsley shared her cultural knowledge with the students.
Aunty Loretta Parsley at the Creative Tech Hub in Moruya. Photo: Marion Williams.
With funding from Monash University’s Fire to Flourish unit, this year the WOLF program expanded to offer older students training and employment opportunities. At the most recent camp the students met farmers and people working in aquaculture.
The program being run from the hub works well for students who respond better to project-based learning.
One of the organisations involved is Bullroarers, which provides cultural education.
Co-founder and director Neal McGarrity is a master trainer who is qualified to teach first aid, technology and what the students need to get their white card to work in the construction industry.
Mr McGarrity said the program helped students get used to an adult learning environment.
The curriculum is broad, ranging from workplace safety practices and standards, to mindfulness, resilience, respect, communication and negotiation skills, healthy lifestyle choices, and assertiveness.
He said the program built the students’ confidence and gave them an appreciation that everyone was different.
The courses are run remotely by Westbourne College, an Aboriginal-owned college in Sydney, and the students will get micro-accreditations.
Laurence Babington, an early collaborator in the WOLF program and Creative Tech Hub, said the college allowed students to pick individual courses so it was a different approach from TAFE.
The Narooma Chamber of Commerce is also involved, raising awareness of the WOLF program among its members so that students can experience different industries, and perhaps get a casual weekend job to see if they want to pursue a career in that sector.
Mr McGarrity said the program was also an opportunity for local businesses to recruit staff and fill apprenticeships.
He said there was a lot of goodwill towards the program with businesses offering in-kind support such as catering and transport for the students.
Students doing first aid training at the Creative Tech Hub in Moruya on 13 May, facilitated by Neal McGarrity (far left). Photo: Marion Williams.
Mr Babington said it was early days and they are still finding their way. They are looking at what other groups are doing in the space, appreciating that every area had different problems and opportunities.
“We are just trying to get people on board, people with good intentions,” he said. “I don’t think we can go wrong.”
He sees unlimited potential for the Creative Tech Hub, which is open to youth and adults.
It is already being used for art exhibitions. Over time it will host innovation nights, art classes, and workshops such as the drone-building workshop planned in August.
The hub can become a co-working space, offering connection to people who find that working in isolation takes a toll.
There are plans for a food van too, again providing work experience opportunities to students while learning skills in customer service, business, and food handling.
Aunty Loretta is delighted to be part of the expanded WOLF program.
“We offer support to the youth because they are our future and some of them don’t know a lot about their heritage,” she said.
“They need help to develop their skills to exist and get into the workforce because of the unemployment in the area,” Aunty Loretta said. “We need to break that cycle.”
