IN 2014, Sarah Hodge from Mount Beauty Secondary College applied for and won a place as one of 80 Victorian school students who will represent Victoria and Australia at the centennial Anzac Day Dawn Service at Gallipoli on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Helen Whittaker, principal at Falls Creek Primary School and Sarah’s mother, thought an activity such as educating her students about the history of the Anzacs and making red poppies could be turned into a symbol of peace and remembrance that Sarah could take with her to place at Gallipoli during the service.
This task was far too big for just the three primary students at Falls Creek to complete in time for Sarah’s departure, so it became a combined schools activity, with Dave Fraser and Julie Ryan’s grade 5 and 6 students from Mount Beauty Primary School and Marg Trnka’s History class at Mount Beauty Secondary College helping.
The year 9 and 10 history class this semester, called World War I — Before and After, has been learning about the Great War, and the students will be running a short Anzac Day service on Friday for the whole school at 3pm.
For the service, the students have been making even more poppies, one for each student, on which they will write the name of a fallen Australian on the back, and students will take the time to find out about that person, as a way of helping young Australians remember those who fought for us.
— SIMONE ROY,
Principal, Mount Beauty Secondary College