Unity College students tackle food insecurity and other social issues
Unity College students have been busy creating cookbooks, care packages for shelter dogs, sustainable homemade clothing and more.
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As part of their year nine studies, students at Unity College are able to make a change and raise awareness on prominent social issues.
The "passion project" gives students an opportunity to take action on their chosen issue.
This year, Ava Schubert looked at how she could put affordable nutritious meals on the tables of those in need.
She achieved this by creating a free cookbook and a TikTok account with content of her recipes.
"I aimed at parents and people who have been highly affected by the rising cost of living," she said.
"So many families are going hungry because they can't afford food or the nutrition they need, so I thought I could fix that."
Another student, Millie DeMichele, looked at how to increase the wellbeing of dogs in shelters.
To raise money, Millie put together a walk at Johnstone Park.
"There was about 20 people at the walk ... and other people who didn't come could still donate," she said.
"Instead of just donating money ... I bought stuff for the dogs and then donated it, so they knew the money was being used on the dogs."
Millie was able to raise $160 and donated two bags of dog food, six bags of pigs' ears and other treats to the local shelter in Murray Bridge.
"I've loved dogs my whole life and I think there's a lot in Murray Bridge that need help," she said.
Ava Schubert, Aiden Johncock and Millie DeMichele pose with their passion project boards. Photos: Liana Webster.
Aiden Johncock took a look at Australia's coral reefs and how they contribute to a healthy environment.
"They store carbon dioxide like forests do ... so all of that is really important in keeping our planet clean and healthy," he said.
His act included creating a video to help educate people on the importance of our reefs.
"It doesn't have to be a big help to make a difference but if anyone lowers their carbon footprint, maybe taking more public transport or pooling, all of that really helps," he said.
Toby Hollis used his passion for football to create and improve culture in sport.
"I knew a lot of people who quit football because they weren't feeling supported enough even though they were good at football," he said.
Toby wanted to create a better culture at his local club, where everyone would support each other.
"I talked to the junior players on how to achieve this good culture and get better," he said.
"Afterwards, for the second half of the year ... there weren't as many cliquey groups.
"People were involving other people, which is what I aimed at the most."
Tom Nuske, Annabelle Vowles and Toby Hollis with their passion project boards. Photo: Liana Webster.
For Tom Nuske, food has always been one of his passions, and he didn't like the idea of people going hungry.
"I found in my research that due to the rising cost of living, everything's gone up in the last couple of years," he said.
To raise awareness and money, he created the $2 a day challenge.
"I had $14 to spend for the week on food ... mostly pasta, rice and oats ... very plain," he said.
Although it wasn't easy, Tom managed to raise $3700 through a Go Fund Me page.
"Looking back I probably regret buying kilos and kilos of pasta and rice ... I could've included more flavour," he said.
Meanwhile, Annabelle Vowles created some groovy clothes as she explored sustainability in the fashion industry.
"I made clothes with my granny and I put it onto Instagram to try and spread awareness," she said.
The passion projects promote the incredible capacity and willingness of the region’s youth to volunteer, raise awareness of social issues and make a real impact on behalf of their community.
Unity strives to teach students the value of serving others and contributing to society in a positive way.
Some of the other great projects included:
- Nate looked at male self-image and body dysmorphia
- Liam focused on cancer research and shaved his long hair to raise funds for a local family battling cancer
- Riley looked at cultural acceptance and immigration in the Murraylands, volunteering in a holiday care program for migrant children
- Oakley raised more than $3k for motor neurone disease research
- Zoe wrote a letter to the Prime Minister about unjust nursing conditions and got a reply with a national survey to complete
- Jemma raised awareness about skin cancer and educated Australians on how to protect themselves
