A new association to support education has arisen from Albury teachers' efforts to ensure country kids don't miss out on extracurricular activities.
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The Albury Legal Studies Association was formed this year to hold a skills day for students in June, in lieu of a similar event usually run by the Sydney-based NSW association being cancelled in COVID.
Trinity Anglican College year 12 student Rosie Bradford, 18, was among 20 of her school's attendees on June 11 at Xavier High.
"You talk about legal issues as a broad thing that affects everyone in Australia, but actually, it's good to relate it to local things," she said.
"It was good to link content to what they were saying.
"I learnt so much - the speakers were great."
Legal Studies teacher Gerard Hynes, who led the day with Trinity's Mark Fagan, said having local speakers compared to those from Sydney in previous years.
"We thought we could gather local experts, for example Hume Riverina Community Legal Service, and the kids just thought it was fantastic," he said.
"We had Aimee Epstein from the local police.
"We had Jordyn Moir introduce the day and he talked about his experience (in Legal Studies) ... he was ranked 10th in the state.
"It was a great effort by everyone involved - we understood they (Legal Studies Association of NSW) couldn't run it but didn't want our kids to be disadvantaged."
Schools included the Billabong, Murray and James Fallon high schools, and Mr Fagan said the association's formation followed years of resource-sharing.
"We will be looking for committee members and hope to do personal development for teachers," he said.
"The beauty of the association will be for the Legal Studies teachers just starting out; they will be able to share in resources and support.
"I want to encourage the subject to be more popular.
"It taps into the students' moral compass really easily and ultimately, they appreciate how lucky we are as a nation."
Reading his students' trial HSC exam papers this week, Mr Fagan could see the difference the skills day had made.
His 18-year-old student Phoebe Ziebarth, who has applied for early entry at Wollongong University, agreed the day had enhanced what she'd gained from Legal Studies.
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"I found the police officers really interesting - it was good to hear their perspective, and we heard from a refugee who was amazing," she said.
"It gives us a different perspective for our work and comes into our essay as well - it made such a huge difference."
