UNSW and Souths Cares spread the message of education to rural schools
UNSW staff members came together Rabbitohs players past and present to engage and inspire rural students.
UNSW staff members came together Rabbitohs players past and present to engage and inspire rural students.
As part of UNSW's partnership with Souths Cares, the independent not-for-profit public benevolent institution arm of the South Sydney Rabbitohs, members of the team travelled to rural NSW to engage with students about education and their options for the future.
During these visits, the UNSW team focused on promoting university study as accessible to everyone no matter where they live or their socio-economic status. The aim is to help students to start a journey to discover if university is right for them and highlight specific UNSW programs, such as Nura Gili that supports Indigenous students studying at UNSW.
The two organisations have been working together to engage primary and high school students in their learning journey through the powerful medium of sport.
During UNSW's presentation, the team introduced high school students to the concept of understanding their individual values, passions and strengths and how these can influence the future career path they might be interested in. The relevance of these concepts was demonstrated to the students in a video about former Rabbitohs player John Sutton. There were also interviews with Sutton, current player Ethan Lowe and the Rabbitohs team mascot Charlie.
Students gained an understanding around how personal values can change over time - Sutton spoke about a time early in his career when he was very focused on himself as an individual and valued dedication and accountability very highly. However later in his career, his values aligned a lot more strongly to family.
Ethan Lowe spoke to students about how important it is to choose an organisation - whether that is in sport, study or the workplace - that aligns as closely to your personal values as possible. Lowe identified this as a key reason why he made the decision to play with the Rabbitohs, as they have a strong focus on family.
Rebecca Hamment, teacher at Lithgow High School believes it was a valuable experience for her students.
‘’The presentations to our students were fabulous. It covered a wide range of information that will certainly help our students consider options for their futures," she said. "The information about the range of pathways, the study options and the discussions about careers from a range of people was very inspiring. There has already been a lot of very positive feedback from students and certainly stimulated discussion about the presentation and different options the students are now considering. The great combination of sport, education and the future certainly engaged our young people!”
While we're obviously in quite uncertain times at the moment, UNSW feels strongly about this program and its ability to break down barriers to higher education faced in rural areas and will work towards the resumption of the program later in 2020. The UNSW team looks forward to engaging more students through sport and education with Souths Cares throughout the remainder of 2020.