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By HARRY CLARKE
SCHOOL students across rural and regional Queensland have wrapped up another year of a mentoring program with former Brisbane Broncos stars which aims to encourage Indigenous students to engage with education and set goals.
Beyond Broncos is a program not related to rugby league that involves retired footy stars taking on the roles of Broncos Ambassadors and visiting schools to help inspire children to strive for success.
Broncos Ambassadors, including former team captains Scott Prince, Justin Hodges, Alex Glenn and Darius Boyd, periodically make trips to the country to work with kids face to face, while local student support officers conduct the program weekly during the school year.
This year, high achieving students in the Toowoomba and Surat Basin regions were awarded scholarships under a partnership with Arrow Energy to provide resources to help further their education and leadership development.
Scott Prince has been involved as a Beyond Broncos ambassador for nine years and said it was rewarding to see the benefits of the program, which involves 2000 students from 54 participating schools.
“I love what I do,” Prince said.
“I’ve seen students go from Year 7 all the way through to graduating and that’s basically what it’s all about – to see our girls in particular, but also boys, grow and be confident and take anything that they need and throw it in their tool kit for what that wide world has to provide them.
“Hopefully they go on to further study and employment.”
The student support officer for the Western Downs region is Marion Turnbull (Mandandanji), who said she’d seen significant development among the students throughout her first year with Beyond Broncos.
“It’s about encouraging them to stay in school, supporting them academic-wise (and with their school) attendance,” Turnbull said.
“I’ve been supporting students with work experience and gaining school-based traineeships, have yarns with them at lunch time and try to get lunchtime activities for them.
“When I first started a lot of them were a bit mild, a bit shame and pretty much tended to stick to their family or in a certain little group, but throughout the year we’ve noticed they’re expanding out of our activities room and making friends of their own… branching out from family.”
Beyond Broncos Girls Academy award winners
