Nine students from Tyrrell College attended the School for Leadership, Don Valley Campus for nine weeks during Term 3 of 2022 and upon their return they were keen to bring the community together for an enjoyable fun-fi lled night in a drug and alcohol-free environment as their Community Leadership project. By organising this community event, it provided the nine youths the opportunity to increase their capacity for event management and put into practice the skills they gained while they were away which included planning, promoting, setting up and supervising an event. This also gave them the opportunity to connect with their community. The students also had to problem solve and adapt as issues arose such as wet weather and the mosquitoes. Their endeavours were successful, and they provided a fantastic event that catered to a range of interests. An evening of fun, socialising, and reconnecting was enjoyed by over 150 people of all ages who gathered at the Sea Lake Complex on Saturday, October 15, 2022. The community enjoyed an evening of family fun activities organised by the 2022 School for Student Leadership (SSL) youths and Sea Lake Neighbourhood House. The Wycheproof/ Sea Lake Local Drug Action Team (LDAT) proudly sponsored this event. The evening provided families a variety of activities to choose from and children eagerly ran from one activity to the next. Activities were set up inside and outside the community complex. The tennis courts were turned into a combat zone for Archery Tag. A variety of food and drink was also available to purchase. When all the activities were packed up, everyone settled in on beanbags, blankets, and chairs to watch the movie ‘Cars’ on the big screen. Before the movie started, the nine leadership students took the opportunity to outline why they had organised this event and thanked Kellie Matthews (Sea Lake Neighbourhood House Coordinator) and Damien Leo (Tyrrell College Home School Liaison Teacher), for their assistance in putting this night together as well as parents, teachers and friends who volunteered their time to help. Most importantly, a huge thank you went out to The Sea Lake-Wycheproof (LDAT) ADF Project because without their funding, then the Family Fun night would not have been possible. LDAT’s mission is to reconnect youth in a safe, fun, and engaging way with a focus on friendships, family, and inclusion. LDAT coordinators, Kellie Matthews (Sea Lake NHH) and Tina Jones (Wycheproof Community Resource Centre) thought this youth driven community event, closely aligned with these aims and were happy to sponsor the event. Congratulations to the nine students for putting on exactly what they set out to achieve in a short period of time. The community look forward to watching you grow, continuing to see you develop and refi ne your leadership skills in the coming years. We would like to call on Jenna Alday, Tye Griffiths, Brody Kelly, Jack Leo, Billy McClelland, Scarlett McGarry, Dayna McKenzie, Laura Simpson and Ellie Stacey to accept 2023 Sea Lake Junior Citizen of the Year. Congratulations to you all.” Teacher Damien Leo congratulated the group. He said, “After the leadership camp they were straight into organising the family fun night. Every one did a really good job, organising external resources, getting posters up and promoting the event. A fantastic effort by all the kids.” Laura Simpson responded on behalf of the group. “We learnt a lot at the camp and it was really good to give to the community and get everyone together to have a really good night. “So good job to everyone and well done for making it such a good time.” Previous Sea Lake Citizen of the Year, Graham Jolly, then came forward to present this year’s Citizen of the Year recipient. Fiona Jolly read the following citation.

(news article provided by Times Ensign)