Chalking up a new Schoolies tradition

WHILE most students are planning Schoolies Week parties in Byron Bay or on the Gold Coast, these girls are preparing for a challenging alternative.

Marist Sisters' College

WHILE most Year 12 students are planning Schoolies Week parties in Byron Bay or on the Gold Coast, a group of girls from Marist Sisters College Woolwich are preparing for a challenging alternative.

Fifteen students aim to spend the traditional leaving week from December 11 to 17 either helping out at a kids' holiday camp for the disabled or visiting the Philippines to assist staff at the Davao Mental Hospital.

Have your say: What are you or your children doing for Schoolies?

For 17-year-old Monique Rapisarda, the experience will be a culture shock but a great learning curve.

"All you do in Year 12 is think about yourself and the amount of study involved. It will give me more opportunity for perspective, that life is not all about this one year of study" she said. Most of her friends have locked in Surfers Paradise for the same week.

"My friends are shocked. They want to go out and party. But this will be more of an education, and I'm going to take this experience with me into the future."

Kate Young, also 17, would prefer to spend her money gaining more than a hangover.

"I've always thought Schoolies overrated - spending all that money on something you'll soon get over - and the things you take from it are very limited," she said.

"I hope to value this for the rest of my life and I expect it to change and challenge me, take me beyond my comfort zone."

Dr Dan White, executive director of Catholic schools in the Sydney archdiocese, said binge drinking is one of the reasons the "Schoolies" model requires an overhaul.

"I'm gravely concerned about the high risk factors on our young students," Dr White said. "They can be vulnerable, with many recently turned 18 (or in some cases 17) being together in an unfamiliar environment far from home without any support or supervision is worrying."

Schoolies Week is seen as a rite of passage for school-leavers entering adulthood, but Dr White worries about the message that binge drinking in particular sends out.

"Most kids come through unscathed, but it perpetuates the myth that binge drinking is a safe recreational past-time," he said. "Child and adolescent psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg said the tradition of binge drinking among young people during Schoolies Week needed to be challenged and that overseas work programs were uplifting and beneficial.

"It will benefit the kids, the community and the world," he said. "It's uplifting for everyone, kids will walk away feeling good, and it doesn't involve alcohol."