Students pitch in at Plunket

Two Christchurch Plunket clinics have been given a spring clean thanks to the help from some of our Year 10 students: Matteo Zhang (10BU), Debbie Dunn (10EA), Cailin McVicar (10EA) and Callum Wakefield (10BU), and the University of Canterbury (UC) Student Volunteer Army (SVA).

This term, our students, alongside the UC SVA and other year 10s from local schools, visited the Burnside and Burwood Plunket clinics. 

Over two mornings the group trimmed buses, dug out weeds and unwanted trees, painted fences, cleaned the playground equipment, and tidied the grounds.

Rebecca Brundell, Community Coordinator from Plunket commented on how much energy and enthusiasm the group had. “Within two seconds they were in there digging everything up. The places look absolutely amazing. Not only our staff, but our families that visit these clinics will be truly amazed”

At the Burnside clinic the group was also cheered on by local pre-schoolers at the kindergarten next door.

The UCan Year 10 programme encourages local secondary students to begin exploring leadership in their communities through volunteering while being mentored by SVA members. 

Along with getting out and making a difference in the community, the Year 10 students also got to learn more about the SVA, how it was founded, and the work it continues to do in the community. 

The students also were tasked with coming up with a project idea that they would like to implement within their own school and community before pitching it to a panel consisting of representatives from the university and SVA.