Help for Sunshine Beach High chaplaincy program
19 September 2008
Choice can be a daunting prospect for teenagers.
Year 10 student Melissa Chase says on top on schoolwork and the normal dramas of being a teenager, picking path of the myriad career and education options is tough when you’re 16.
“We need someone to help us to choose,” she said.
“It’s pretty hard to decide what to do.”
Big donations need big cheques and that’s what Westpac Financial Services manager Barry Hine handed to Sunshine Beach High last week to turn the two-day-a-week chaplaincy program into to a five-day-a-week support service for students.
The community pitched in with donations at a recent fundraising dinner and Westpac’s $10,000 cheque will ensure students have somewhere to turn when the chips are down.
Sunshine Beach chaplain Shane Westera said his job was to give students a hearing ear for any sort of problem.
“Students come in and need to talk straight away,” he said.
“It’s just a huge difference being active in the school community.”
Some of biggest challenges for teenagers, Shane said, were broken homes, finding employment and being bullied.
Shane said the one-on-one contact can help put young lives back on track, and as a chaplain, he can provide spiritual support to those questioning their beliefs.
Chaplains are in place two days a week at five schools across Noosa, supported by a regional chaplaincy committee made up of locals.
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