A class of 18 studying a certificate four in community services were tasked with creating a community awareness campaign in June.

Linking in with Wodonga Council’s new Reflect Respect campaign, the students held their event on Wednesday.

Katrice May, whose role was focusing on barriers for career progression faced by women, said she had passed on observations to her own children.

“Doing this course, I’ve learned about primary prevention and teaching my kids – by not stereotyping and having gender equality at home,” she said.

“You know not to say things to your kids like ‘You had a boy’s look’.

“It’s been overwhelming, but great.”

Sebastian Napier had similar thoughts, looking at the resource ‘A modern day guide for gentleman’, developed for council’s campaign.

“I thought it was a good tactic and was very cleverly done,” he said.

“It made you aware of even those simple things that happen day-to-day that you could change.

“I pull up people I work about the stereotypes; it’s making slow changes.”

Developed in conjunction with Dutch Media and the Victorian government, the campaign is focused on men aged 18 to 40.

“Stop calling it ‘babysitting’ when it’s your own kids”, “There’s no ‘i’ in team, but there is in dinner”, and “be gallant in defeat” are among the tips included in the gentleman’s guide.

Hard copies of the 30-page resource were distributed by the community services students on Wednesday, along with sobering statistics including that on average, eight women a day are hospitalised by their partner.

The group were also selling raffle tickets to raise money for Centre Against Violence, and Katelyn Wallace, who hopes to become a Community Corrections Officer, said the CAV staff had made an impact on her and her peers.

“A guest speaker came in and told us what they did, and that’s how we decided where we would donate the money to,” she said.

“People might not know where to go, so we want to show what’s available.”

Throughout the day, different activities were held for classes, including word association – breaking down the gender-based stereotypes behind certain words like ‘doctor’.

Lachlan Davidson conducted trivia.

“The final five questions are based on domestic violence, as a means to teach people this is what’s actually happening,” he said.