A wonderful opportunity was offered to 19 indigenous students from Narooma High School to visit Thredbo and learn to snowboard this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Australian Indigenous Alpine Sports Foundation, CHILL foundation and Burton supported the program and it was the first time some of the kids in Years 7-10 had even seen snow let alone snowboarded.
Students spent three days in Thredbo learning to snowboard with instructors in the morning and then two staff members from Burton, Ash and Lucus, spent the afternoon snow boarding with the students to expand on their newly acquired skills.
Students stayed at Bungara Lodge in Jindabyne, whose staff were fantastic, preparing wonderful healthy meals and comfortable homely accommodation.
“This was an experience of a lifetime and students are still buzzing this week about it all,” said Narooma High School Aboriginal education officer Cherrie Sandford.
“They made friends with other students from Sydney schools and met Aboriginal Year 11 and 12 students from Esperance in Western Australia who came along to play pool, table tennis and hand ball with the NHS students, which was a fantastic cultural exchange for them both.”
On Day 1, the students were dragging themselves out each lessons and feeling very exhausted, by Day 3 the students were using all of the snow jargon such as shredding, walking and talking like professional boarders with their heads up high, she said.
“A big thank you to all the organisers of this fantastic program to aims to increase the amount of Aboriginal youth experiencing the snow and learn to snowboard and each child received a hoodie from AIASF and a beanie from Burton to remind them of their experience,” Ms Sanford said.
“This amazing program has lifted the spirits, confidence and talents of our Aboriginal students who were selected for the program because of their excellent attendance and behaviour records.
“Most of them had attendance over 90 per cent and this is something the students, staff and family members are extremely proud of.”