President's Report

The YOG community has been up and about this year, with many great initiatives - both repeated and brand new - being delivered. We are still focusing on generating great connections with the Year 10 to 12 student cohort at Yarra, and this approach is generating some great feedback. We are seeing a high level of recognition amongst students not just of who YOG are, but their views on how YOGs are adding value to their school journey as they approach Year 12 exams. It’s nice to be appreciated, and it becomes a much more rewarding experience for both students and YOGs!

This is very encouraging for us, and I want to thank all those YOGs that have donated their time and knowledge in helping students to prepare for life after school.

Some of the great initiatives we’ve delivered recently include:

• Tertiary insights – a brand new initiative where students can ask returning YOGs all about tertiary life and courses, as well as information on other pathways
• Speed careering – continues to grow in popularity for both YOGs and students
• Annual Golf Day – once again, over-subscribed!
• Women in STEM - a focused session on women’s roles in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)
• Gap Year Adventures – what it’s like to take a gap year
• YOG End of Year Exam Conversations - helping Year 12 students to prepare for their upcoming exams and assessments.

In addition, YOG has sponsored the Yarra Spirit & Community Links Award at the Year 12 Presentation Night. This award has been with the school for many years, and now has the YOG name associated with it. This provides an opportunity to acknowledge the important part that Yarra teachers play in student development; Teachers such as the late Kel Emmett, Les Christie and Norm Maggs.

We also held the YOG Year 12 breakfast in Foundation Hall, in October. This is an annual event and an important part of the last week's program for the Year 12 students. At this breakfast, we begin our welcome into the YOG community and remind all students how to stay connected. We also (for the first time this year) provided each student with a tote bag containing a YOG-branded wireless charger and drink bottle. These gifts were very well received!

As we look to next year, we will be building on the momentum we’ve generated over the last few years and introducing new ways in which we can all stay connected, and when we choose to, contribute and benefit to/from this awesome community of YOGs.