Last week, 17 of our brightest year 10-12 Shooting Stars participants spent the week in Perth for our annual Senior Leadership Camp. The camp provides an opportunity for the girls to explore the many options available to them post year 12, participate in networking and leadership activities and have a bit of fun with girls from other Shooting Stars sites across Western Australia.
The camp kicked off with a beautiful, sunny morning at Karrgatup (Kings Park), where Kerry-Ann Winmar performed a Welcome to Country and took the girls on a tour around the park, sharing her knowledge of the native trees, bush medicine and the history of the native titles in the area. For some of our girls it was their first time in Perth, so starting the camp connecting with the Noongar culture and history was extremely special.
Another highlight of the camp was their session with West Coast Fever athletes Rudi Ellis and Verity Simmons. The women sat with the girls, sharing personal stories of growth and leadership, before doing what they do best and running through a range of netball skills and drills that got the girls fired up.
Shooting Stars were also proud to collaborate with corporate partners Gold Industry Group and Mineral Resources, who hosted our girls for a range of interesting and engaging workshops, and Compass Group who invited our girls to a sundowner to celebrate the launch of their Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).
It wasn’t all business all week however, with the girls having time to take each other on in a MasterChef-style competition, where they had to organise their own budgets, shopping lists and menus for the competition. We were also blessed with beautiful spring weather in Perth, which meant the girls could soak up the sun in the apartment pool, and finally they rounded out their week with a spot of shopping.
Kununurra participant Lattaya has soaked up the opportunities at camp and has expanded her goals for the future. “I enjoyed my time on camp and now have inspiration to one day go to university. It opened my eyes up to so many new opportunities and career pathways I hadn’t heard of before.”
Reflecting on the week, Shooting Stars Pathways Coordinator, Rokiyah Bin-Swani said, “the Senior Leadership Camp was a great experience, and it was amazing to see the growth in the students over the week. All the girls went into the sessions with an open mind and participated in every opportunity. They are all role models for their communities and have committed to sharing what they learnt on camp, back to their peers at home.”
The girls left the camp with full hearts and minds, with each and every one of them going back to their home town with a fire in their belly for the future and what it may bring. Chaya, a Fitzroy Crossing participant who attended the camp, said how it was “an honour to represent my town [on the camp]. I am quite a shy person, but I told my Program Coordinator (Sam Shepherd) that if I was able to come on this camp that I will work hard to come out of my shell more.”
The Senior Leadership Camp is proudly sponsored by KingKira who have come on board to support our Leadership program across the next three years.
