Attendance at Brigidine College Social Justice Forum

SRC attendance and engagement at the Brigidine College Social Justice Forum

Oliver S, Year 10 Heavey:

“Recently, some SRC members from Years 10 and 11 attended the annual Social Justice Forum at Brigidine College St Ives. Approximately 130 students attended from local northern suburbs schools such as Barker College, St Leo’s, St Pius, Turramurra High and of course Brigidine.

When we arrived, there was some afternoon tea and about half an hour to get to know students from other schools and have a chat. After that we were escorted to the auditorium where we listened to keynote speaker, Sister Brigid Arthur talk about the issue of asylum seekers and how the Australian government has harsh policies against these people who have been forced to flee their country. Sister Brigid was very inspirational.

Students were then split up into groups and went to separate rooms, often with no one else from their school. In these rooms we participated in interactive activities run by different guest speakers and organisations. Each organisation was based around a different social justice issue. Each student was privileged enough to experience three organisations each.

Personally, I participated in BASP, the Gaimaragal Group, and Batyr. Each of these interactive sessions were a positive experience. The BASP (Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project) session was run by Sister Brigid. During this session we were asked to think about what five types of aid we think asylum seekers most need when they come to Australia, and rank these from most important to least.

The Gaimaragal Group session was run by Susan Moylan-Coombs. Susan is part of the group known as the Stolen Generation and was a representative for first nations people at the social justice forum. During her session we were given a topic test about Indigenous people, their history, and their customs. Susan educated us further about the impacts of British settlement on the Indigenous population.

Lastly the Batyr session. Batyr is a preventative mental health organisation, created and driven by young people for young people. During this session students were involved in discussions about what the organisation does, and we talked about trying to eliminate the stigma related to mental health, encouraging those struggling to share their stories.

Overall, it was a great night where we were able to learn some more about certain social justice issues in our world and engage with students from other schools.”