Hi, this is George and Samara.

When Barry Heard writes books I reckon he gets his motivation from the letters he receives, like from Vietnam veterans and all that other stuff because I think he thinks it would be good for the world to know what really happened in the war. Instead of some guy making up a story, he is actually telling a real life story on behalf of all the Vietnam soldiers and I think that’s what’s motivates him to write his books.

What I thought the main message that came from him today was, to never give up no matter how bad of a situation you are in, just keep going you will get better and will become stronger, because he went through a hell of a lot and I don’t think he thought of giving up on the world and dying, instead he stayed strong and became famous for what he and all the other soldiers have been through.

Barry’s main leadership traits are modesty, courage and he is just a great bloke. He talked a bit about his mates committing suicide and how life definitely wasn’t easy for him when he got back. He was so strong to go through that, and come out the other side. Barry prefers to say the book is by all the men in the Vietnam War. At first, he didn’t even want his name printed on the cover of the book.

Barry’s story put into perspective to all of us, what the war was actually like. It’s definitely not sunshine and rainbows. It ruins people’s lives. He talked about how innocent he was walking into the army, then how completely opposite he and every other man was, returning.

Barry Heard’s story was very touching and left many of us tearing up.

Hi I’m Tom and I’m the student leader for today. This time I was with Adele and our personal goal was to help organise our classes. We were going to do that by informing the rest of our expo group what to bring to class and to basically run the whole class. We didn’t quite achieve this, but I still managed to have fun trying to complete my goal.

From Tom P.

So today is a Rest Day. For our first session we had a lady named Debbi Gray come in and talk to us. She had a disability but she didn’t like calling it a disability because everyone is different so she likes to call it ‘diffability’. First up she talked about her school life and how friends can be an influence but if they are not supportive or accept the way you are than ditch them.

After that she showed us a video clip of the major events in her life like having a baby and skydiving from 10,000 feet. After that she talked about pretty much everything that went on her life like taking a trip to America and getting a job in the navy and how she got to work with a modified golf buggy. So she told us pretty much everything that went on in her life, we saw her modified car and how it ran and how she controls it.

Today we had a roster that the t-shirt committee put up so that everyone in the community can do a t-shirt. We also had a group go out to the beach and see the damage of the harsh weather that hit us a couple of days ago. We also had people playing basketball, rugby and some people that just chilled and watched the movie 'Ice Age'.

So I think that today was a pretty chilled out day and everyone I think had fun.

Yioti and Patrick, June 9th 2012

There is a lot of excitement in the air as 2A and 2B are preparing themselves for their last expo at the Snowy River Campus. Although they were packing all day the rest of us got to go on Coastal Environment which involved us getting to walk through all the rock pools and explore the see life that we found. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our side as it bucketed down the whole entire time, I think we’re all glad we brought our rain jackets. Apart from that downside, we all had a great time playing with the sea squirts and star fishes.

For evening class we got to start planning how we plan to present our CLP which was a lot of fun watching all the past students presentations - all of them involving them embarrassing themselves.

Grady

Luke

My name Is Luke H and I’m from Emerald Secondary Collage. On Saturday the second of June, Terri S and I were student leaders. It was a great day filled with activities and games.

My goal was to run games throughout the day seeing as though it was a rest day. Our community goal was to have everyone write a letter to a member of the community. I completed my personal goal and a lot of the community did the letters. All up it was a great day and I can’t wait for tomorrow.

Terri

Hi my name is Terri S and I’m from Wellington Secondary College. On Saturday I was student leader with Luke. I found it really fun and I think we had a great community goal of a secret friend letter. My personal goal was to motivate the music committee for the formal dinner that night that was hosted by the cooking committee. We went to the sand dunes for DEARR we all had a giant game of octopus after. The day ended nicely with the video ‘The Lorax’ and a small dance that I believe everyone enjoyed. All in all it was a great day and I was more than happy to be student leader.

It’s been pretty quiet back at campus over the week, with half the group on expo. They took a three day trip to and from Mount Ramon, walking and canoeing a total of 30 km over three days.

This week has been pretty busy, we’ve been getting outdoors a lot too, with our expo teams going bike riding on an all-day 27 km ride, caving in the wild caves, squeezing through tricky rocks and getting extremely muddy. We’ve also been surfing and everybody seems to be getting the hang of it now, as well as going on Waterwatch – we learnt about macro invertebrates and the water quality of the snowy river.

We’re both pretty pumped for our turn to go on expo next week, and hoping the weather will be nice and sunny.

Bridget K and Alec K

Hi I’m Noah and I was student leader for the second time yesterday with Bridget VD. My goal was to project my voice better and stop distracting myself, I did that goal and I think I did well. My leadership wasn’t always good but I think I made and impact on our community by doing so ....Noah

Yesterday I was student leader with Noah. Our community goal was to get everyone out for a game of 40/40 home which was relatively successful, although not many people knew how to play everyone had a lot of fun!... Bridget

Today I was student leader with Yioti, it was my second time so I had the general drift of how everything happened and such, so it was pretty easy. First up we had our second NAPLAN test, it was the comprehension. I think I did well enough although pretty sure I got a few wrong.

We had a ‘food for thought’ activity at lunch time, which was really interesting. We had four randomly selected ‘privileged’ people, four guards and two waiters. The rest of us were very poor and got a bowl of rice to share between the four or five of us. The fancy people, the guards and the waiters got a massive meal though, finished with dessert. It was really interesting to see that pretty much the second they started eating we were running up to them and stealing whatever we could grab before the guards grabbed and took us to ‘gaol.’

Then for our second class we had orienteering. That was a heap of fun. Sierra, Adele and I found a massive mud puddle and were literally rolling around. We were brown. All over! It was so much fun though, definitely worth the cleaning process. Then when we were showered and dressed we got our afternoon tea, the most amazing mud cake (seemed appropriate) ever!! It was fantastic.

Shae

Yesterday I was student leader, and we had a safe food handling course all day. It is a TAFE course, so we will be able to put it on our resumes and it will help us get jobs. Basically all day we had to listen and take notes. We then took a test, which was open book so there was not much chance of failing.

For evening class we had two guest speakers. The first was David who had done several ironman’s and triathlons and such. The next was Courtney who won the Australian championships for endurance mountain bike riding. They both spoke about setting goals, and how important and helpful it is. Courtney said that writing down your goals makes it 90% more likely that you will achieve them, which is very helpful advice.

By Issy

Hi I’m George and I was student leader for the day. My goals were to improve my hand writing and get people to class on time. I think I completed half of it, getting students to class on time was a success compared to the other days. My hand writing goal will have to be a long term goal. Everyone has settled in really well I think and are enjoying their time up here. There are a few people wanting to go home but I think when they start doing some activities outside they will start having I ball.

Hi I’m Claire and I also was student leader for the day. My goals were to speak louder and clearer and to also get everyone to class on time. I believe I completed this goal as most people were on time and able to understand what I was saying.

Today turned out to be a really good day and everyone got along well.

By George and Claire

Yesterday I was student leader, I enjoyed the day thoroughly. I felt a bit nervous at first standing up in front of my peers, but as the day went on my fears soon went away. My leadership buddy Ben Mc was a really fun guy to stand up with and he was always humorous. At the start of this week I had my first expo! I thought it was fun and I kept an open mind and I definitely enjoyed it more than what I would have if I didn’t. During that walk I became closer to my peers and my liaison teachers, and I can’t wait to do it all again after parent visiting weekend! Im also looking forward to the surfing, caving and the half day bike ride in week 5. I hope it will be a fun new experience.

By Adele