Sea Explorers: Second Voyage
In 2011, five past students of Mount Lawley Senior High School ran a mentoring program with a group of Year 10 and 11 boys. The second voyage of the Sea Explorers Program has just launched for 2012, with a new group of students.
The mentoring team consists of members of the Class of 1969: Steve Godden, Steve Alfrich, Ian Dorrington, Frank van der Worm and George Papadopolous. Having established a great friendship during their time as students at Mount Lawley, and having embarked on a number of successful careers and businesses, the the group decided that they wanted to contribute something back to the school.
After negotiations with the school during 2010, the team ran their first Sea Explorers Program, working with Andrew Paul, our School Chaplain - "The success of the program last year, and the enthusiasm of the Mentors meant that we were very keen to get it underway again".
The program runs on Fridays, with the boys spending the day with the Mentor team. They undertake a series of activities themed around the ocean, and, going by last year, this should include fishing, sailing, power boating (the boys all obtained their Recreational Skippers Ticket last year), snorkelling, cooking seafood, visits to the Maritime Museum and AQWA and a camp at Rottnest. Of perhaps the greatest value, however, was the opportunity the boys had to work with the Mentor Team. Their genuine friendship, their attitude to work and responsibility and their attention to details such as eye contact and a good handshake all went together to form a very special opportunity for the 7 boys in the initial voyage of the Sea Explorers.
The Sea Explorers Mentors have this year been joined by representatives of the Class of 1968, who are hoping to set up a similar mentoring program, albeit with a different (most probably land-based) theme. The school hopes to get a trial of this new program in second semester,
Alumni Mentoring, as it has become known, provides the school with a wealth of experience and resourcing that only our Alumni can provide. Their generousity of time and their financial commitment to the program (all of the expenses are met by the Mentoring Team) has provided a wonderful resource and is achieving the essence of the lawley Alumn motto:
