Five young people from Hepburn Shire graduated from the Western Bulldogs Leadership Program at Morshead Park in Ballarat last Wednesday.
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Formerly known as the Whitten Project, the intensive six month program provides 20 young people from participating councils with hands on opportunities to built capacities in leadership, teamwork, communication, goal setting and resilience while giving them the opportunity to contribute to their communities.
The youth from Hepburn Shire, aged 14 to 16, met regularly with others from the Pyrenees Shire and Golden Plains localities to develop their skills and behaviours.
During the program, the youth participated in practical team building challenges, mentoring from respected industry leaders, coaching courses and visits to AFL and AFLW matches.
Lachlan Rouse, Olivia Leonard, Lucinda Lowe, Carly Elderfield and Shaz Evans focused on rural related issues during their time in the program.
Leadership Project Program Manager Jenna Browne, said participants used the skills they learnt in their leadership training to work on a social issue they were passionate about, including building awareness around the issues of homelessness, bullying and breast cancer.
The youth worked on a number of initiatives like a breast cancer fundraiser involving selling personally designed t-shirts, a social enterprise called Socks of the West and a mass sleep out at Ballarat’s Mars Stadium to raise awareness of the issue of homelessness in the region.
At the graduation, Hepburn Shire Councillor and deputy mayor Don Henderson presented the youth with their certificates and congratulated them on their efforts.
Youth engagement officer at Hepburn Shire Council, Jonathon Van Der Ploeg worked as a first point of contact with the youth while they engaged in the program.
He said the council, which first participated in the program in 2017, was working on a plan to assist the youth with their journeys on different pathways.