Leadership students get creative

It was a special day for Isabella, 16, and Rebecca, 15, when they got to present their finished group project work as part of the PCYC Certificate I in Leadership at Duncraig Senior High School.

They chose to create a large-scale painting inspired by the fact that Rebecca comes from a family of Noongar artists: her mother and Great Aunty are professional artists, and her grandmother paints for self-healing.

Rebecca’s mother, Julianne Wade, who often conducts painting workshops with students, helped throughout the project by giving Isabella and Rebecca the guidance they needed to create such a big piece.

They used unusual tools to create the thousands of dots that cover the painting including cotton buds tied together, skewers, sticks, fingers and even chopsticks!

Rebecca introduced the artwork by saying, “It displays the importance of the Indigenous people and our connection to the land.” Isabella explained that the piece is a ‘Welcome to the Country’, and that it was important for them to showcase the interaction on the Australian land by the community (for example the meeting circle symbol bottom right) and the animals (the footprints going towards the sun).

The students worked on this project for four hours a week for nine weeks – and for Rebecca, it was a real insight into what her mother does for a living. The piece will be hung permanently in the high school’s main entrance for everyone to enjoy.

Vocational Education and Training (VET) Manager Maree Marcon noted that the Leadership course had a positive impact on the two students involved, both girls working well together developing their leadership and communications skills.

Steve Olsen, PCYC Institute of Training Manager said, “This is what this course is all about – making students build leadership skills and self-confidence. Since the students can pick the group project of their choice, we encourage them to think outside of the box. We don’t tell them what to do, they get to pick what really interests them – which is key to students’ engagement.”

Find out more about our Certificate I in Leadership Course here.