Students link up with morning tea

By Shaun Inguanzo
HOSPITALITY students in Noble Park have turned their lives around while helping others to do the same.
Students at LINK Employment and Training’s Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) hospitality program are studying for their Certificate Two in Hospitality that will open the door to further study or apprenticeships within the industry.
LINK’s VCAL coordinator Kathie Jacobs said students last week organised and catered for the Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea fundraiser held at Noble Park’s Paddy O’Donoghue Centre.
The students prepared for the day months in advance and had to order, prepare and serve food, organise publicity and ensure the event ran smoothly.
Ms Jacobs said the event was a success for students and attendees, with $242 in gold coin donations raised to go towards cancer research.
The charitable act is part of a program that has helped these young people, aged between 15 and 17, to turn their lives around.
Ms Jacobs said the program was made up of disengaged young people who were still keen to learn despite finding the school environment difficult to cope in.
The hands-on, practical approach with a strong career focus, however, is working.
“The students were rapt with the morning tea,” Ms Jacobs said.
“This is their first function and I don’t think they realised that this is how good it can be and they received a lot of praise from people who were there, including compliments on their cooking, the taste of the food and the presentation.
“They were absolutely thrilled at the end of it.”
Ms Jacobs said LINK was pleased with students’ progress and expected them to go on to bigger and better things.