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Group 33: Week 7B - April 12, 2008

Community Garden

Houses one, two and three all walked down to the local community garden, which is located along Alliance St. We helped fix it all up for our collective potential. We painted trees to add colour to the garden so it would look beautiful. We made a chook shed for the chickens to lay eggs in. We then made garden beds for herbs and spices so the locals could go and get them. We moved sticks of all different sizes so they could burn them at a later date when the fire ban was over. The girls made dragonflies out of wire and hid them in various trees so the little kids could go and find them as a game. We did many more things to help the garden, which the community liked very much. Houses one, two and three were all very happy with the outcome of our hard work. We all felt very proud of our efforts.

Jack H

Planting Trees

Houses 12 and 13 went to Sovereign Hill in Ballarat, behind the scenes to some horse paddocks and dug up weeds, stones and random things that were in the dirt. Though they were helping the community they found it very tiring and physically exhausting. The best thing about it was the free time when they got to walk around and do whatever they wanted at Sovereign Hill. The goal was to build a new paddock for the horses and plant trees so that they could live in a good environment. Houses 12 and 13 felt good about themselves for helping the horses' environment. They achieved their goal in very good time whilst having fun. They used special tools like shovels, picks and pitchforks to help them achieve their goal quicker. Lots of horseshoes were found which meant good luck for those who found them.

Nathan

Community Garden

As Clunes is coming to an end for the students, they were all involved in collective potential. Houses one, two and three were involved in Collective Potential in the community garden. We all put our hands in and got dirty, it involved digging, breaking, creating and moving. The community garden is a place for the community to get together and put in the hard hours to make the garden flourish. We helped make it a fun and safe place for kids to play. Wire sculptures were being made, poles were being painted, the ground was being turned, trees were being pruned, scarecrows were being created and manure was being laid out. It was an enjoyable time for houses to get to know each other, work as a team, make a great end product and make a difference.

Lauren

Bike Trip

For houses eight and nines' collective potential, we planned to do a thirty-one km ride from a town called Dean to Ballarat. We aimed to finish it and later raise money for an organisation called Kiva, which looked to be an extremely helpful charity. We first packed our gear for the ride and then cooked our meals for the following day. Then we drove out to Dean and stayed the night in a community hall. That night Steve briefed us on the ride for the next day and the obstacles we would encounter. He told us that we would encounter steep, rocky and rutted hills and that we would have to be especially vigilant and sensible when we were riding through them. The next day we departed Dean and began our ride to Ballarat. The first part of the ride was quite flat and easy to ride through but after that it was extremely rocky for the next kilometre. Many of the hills we encountered were hard but as a team we pulled through. There was a lot of teamwork and encouragement between the group and that is what pulled us through. Every time we felt like quitting we thought of the organisation we were trying to raise money for. When we arrived in Ballarat we felt so much satisfaction. The ride was challenging but fun and all of us enjoyed it. A special thanks to Steve, Elissa and Vanessa because they organised the ride and encouraged us.

Timothy T

Camping Cleanup

Houses six and eleven participated in an environmentally helpful collective potential. They camped out and while they did that they also cleaned up rubbish in certain sections. The aim of their collective potential was to clear up rubbish to make way for a tree plantation. Therefore when people were planting trees they would have a clean area to work with. Both houses became closer to one another during the experience and both houses thoroughly enjoyed helping the community. They said that they felt a nice satisfaction after seeing the entire area being clean. Overall this collective potential was a success, which everyone enjoyed.

Timothy T

Community Living Sing Star

Thursday nights’ community living activity was Sing Star! Everyone had to participate in at least one song. We gathered in Jubilee Hall and were handed sheets of paper with the names of songs. We had the option of 90’s, Legends and Pop Hits. We got in to groups and Nin called out the first performance, which were Vanessa and Bella singing Lonely by Akon. Most of the students were into the activity and singing along while some others lay down and almost fell asleep. The people that performed got on stage and huddled to sing into the two microphones. Some more songs we heard were hits such as Leave by Jojo, (which I sung with five other girls) Hit Me Baby One More Time by Britney Spears sung by a group of boys, I Want You Back by Jackson 5 and many others by Gorillaz, My Chemical Romance and Cascada etc. There was no winner or loser but mostly everyone had fun and enjoyed the night.

Phoebe C

Morning Tea and Concert

On Friday morning there was a Morning Tea provided by the students for the elderly citizens. The students had baked cakes and put together platters of food to serve. This started at 9.45am and finished an hour later. At 10.45am there was a concert by the students performed to the elderly and some of the students from the Clunes Primary School. The first performance was the Brass players (saxophone, trombone and trumpet) that included Josh, Ben, Maddy, Bryce, Bill, Jade etc with Azren on the drums. The next performance was the same group of brass players with a group of girls singing RESPECT. There were a few more songs performed including Seasons of Love and Unfaithful. All the audience enjoyed the concert and it showed a lot of effort and talent.

Phoebe C