Senator visits

BUNDABERG'S St Luke's Anglican College and Bargara State School got a visit from the Senate yesterday with Senator for Queensland John Hogg.

BUNDABERG schools got a visit from the Senate yesterday with Senator for Queensland John Hogg presenting St Luke’s Anglican College and Bargara State School students with Ripples of Change funding grants.

The $500 grants, which are part of the Great Barrier Marine Park Authority’s Reef Guardian Program, will allow the schools to undertake projects aimed at preserving and protecting the environment.

The grant to St Luke’s Anglican School will be put towards the development of water quality monitoring, water conservation and recycling, and the ongoing maintenance of the Woongarra scrub habitat.

Bargara State School will be using their grant for a vegetable garden.

Senator Hogg said both projects were very worthy of funding.

“It’s encouraging to see students take on such diverse projects as the two I’ve seen in Bundaberg today,” he said.

“Areas so close to the Great Barrier Reef such as Bundaberg all make an impact on the reef so these projects are important.”

St Luke’s school captains Vincent Nydam and Charlotte Kelly said they had enjoyed meeting the senator and learning more about the Australian government.

“It was really interesting to see his point of view on the Australian government and his role,” Miss Kelly said.

Mr Nydam said the highlight for him was meeting representatives of GBRMPA, who also helped to make the presentations and created environmental awareness within the school.

“It was good not only to meet the senator but to have GBRMPA here as well,” he said.

“We do a lot of assignments and activities related to the environment but not everyone knows the program is running.”

Year six and seven students at Bargara were also given the opportunity to ask Senator Hogg questions about his job and the government, as an educational experience.

Originally published as Senator visits