During Term 2, a number of Year 6 students from St Joseph’s submitted entries into the 2018 Australian Catholics Young Journalist competition.
This year’s theme was a Voice of Hope – giving students the task to find somebody who they felt was a force for good in their community, interview them and write an article detailing how that person uses their gifts to help provide hope for others.
Janni Rafty, Jude O’Brien and Joss Bamback each received a Highly Commended award for their entries and will have their names printed in the Spring edition of the Australian Catholics magazine and on the Australian Catholics website
See extracts from each of their articles below.
Janni Rafty – Lauren Parker
Lauren is a 29-year-old para-athlete. About 13 months ago she was training for a triathlon, tragically both her tyres burst whilst riding her bike and she fell onto the guard rail severing her spinal cord and became a paraplegic.
I chose Lauren Parker as a voice of hope because she had a massive tragedy in her life and is still determined to be the best person she can be, whether it be in a wheel chair or not, Lauren is an amazing and courageous person that I look up to.
Joss Bamback – Jamie Goodwin
Jamie Goodwin is a voice of hope to the community. He is an extraordinary skateboard teacher to Newcastle. Jamie is very inspiring to all children who want to be good at anything, not just skateboarding.
Jamie Goodwin is a voice of hope because he reminds kids that they can be whoever they want to be and to keep going no matter what people say.
When Jamie Goodwin was 11 years old he was given an old broken down skateboard and he never imagined where that would take him. He was raised in a very poor family by only his farther that had a disability and a mother that died when he was only two years old /he himself was born with a chest and rib disorder, people thought that he would not live due to his disability.
Jude O’Brien – Dennis
When Dennis decided to join his friend Sione on a trip to Tonga in 2017, he really didn't know what to expect. At one of his regular training sessions Sione suggested that Dennis should come along to his village in Tonga and do some training with the local kids.
He and four others set off with a shipping container full of second-hand hand clothing, sporting equipment and other supplies bound for an island 18km off the coast of Tonga. What they found was a community of people who were extremely grateful for their generosity, but were always willing to give back.
The group has grown to 54 volunteers and 3 containers of supplies – builders, doctors and nurses, and trainers such as himself and so many others. - all trying to make the lives of the people of Tonga better.
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