The surprising side of schoolies: Australian teens shunning Surfers Paradise to help others overseas

SCHOOLIES is just an excuse for teens to get totally wasted and act up, right? Well this group of Aussie teens are doing something a bit more surprising ...

YOU know those rowdy, boozy schoolies trips to Surfers Paradise or Bali, where teens run amok? Well they’re so yesterday.

Some Australians are choosing to shun the typical end-of-school celebrations, opting for something dramatically different from their hard-partying peers.

Claudia Snell is one of them. Along with 19 of her peers at Sydney’s Mosman High School, she avoided the huge parties of a “traditional schoolies”, and decided to celebrate the end her school life by giving back.

The teens raised approximately $50,000 and headed to Cambodia to build 32 homes in Kampong Chhnang Province with the charity organisation Tabitha Cambodia.

Their work helped change the lives of 150 villagers forever.

Claudia, now 20, told news.com.au that she was inspired to do something positive after going to a women’s leadership course at Sydney University.

Claudia and her friends wanted to help others. Picture: Claudia Snell

She said while they originally hoped to travel to Nepal, after a few months of research they found the Tabitha Foundation in Cambodia “which had a program that really suited us”.

“When we pitched it to our friends over going to somewhere like Surfers and got a lot of interest, we started planning an alternative ‘ethical’ schoolies trip.”

Ms Snell admits organising the trip was a huge effort, with 26 students (including some who weren’t travelling) pulling together to raise thousands of dollars for the trip.

The group held an art auction, set up a fundraising website, and were sponsored by Travel Insurance Direct.

Building away. Picture: Claudia Snell

“It was an eye-opening trip” said Ms Snell.

Before they started work building homes, the group visited Phnom Penh’s Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.

“We were taken around the prison and told about its horrifying history, and the Pol Pot reign, to have a better understanding of the Cambodian history and what many of the locals we would soon meet had been through.

“We went to the killing fields for the same reason.”

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Picture: Angela Saurine

They then moved out to the rural areas of Phnom Penh to farming communities, where they started work on building 32 houses.

Each student had to raise $1500 to help build the house, and Cambodians themselves had to save $25 for their own house (which would normally take them a year to save).

The group spent two days building the houses, getting to know that local farming community and playing games with the children.

With the grateful group. Picture: Claudia Snell

Ms Snell said the experience was moving for everyone involved.

“We had a big ceremony on the last day where each family shifted into their new homes, and each student gave a family a blanket. It was pretty emotional as they are so grateful.”

She said the group finished the trip by going to an orphanage just outside Phnom Penh, where they gave the kids small gifts, such as colouring pencils or soccer balls.

“This was an amazing experience too, they are just so grateful for anything.

Progress on the homes. Picture: Claudia Snell

Ms Snell hopes the trip will inspire other students to chose a volunteering holiday above a trip to the Gold Coast at the end of Year 12.

“I would personally say that finishing school is one of the biggest moments of your life and how you celebrate that should be something you can be proud of and remember fondly. I think everyone should celebrate it however they desire but the self-fulfilment you gain from helping people that are less fortunate is the greatest feeling ever.”

Thrilled locals. Picture: Claudia Snell

However you chose to celebrate schoolies, Travel Insurance Direct has some tips.

• Know the law of the land

Travel insurance simply cannot cover you for breaking the law, no matter how seemingly trivial the situation. So while schoolies might think they are “liberating” a flag, the police will see it as simply stealing. If you spend a few days in the lockup and miss your flight, or a pre-booked adventure trip, that’s coming out of your pocket. Neither will travel insurance pay for the lawyer to represent you in court (by the way, the Australian Consulate won’t pay either).

Be happy! Picture: Claudia Snell

• What’s your poison?

You might get more than you bargained for when you order spirits over the bar at a Bali nightclub. Just because your drink comes from a bottle with a label you recognise it doesn’t mean you’re getting that, and only that. It is quite common for bar owners to add methanol to the bottles. It’s a cheap form of alcohol that boosts their profits without noticeably diluting the potency of the spirits.

Methanol is highly toxic. It could send you blind (not just blind drunk) and may put you into a coma, or even kill you. There’s no way of detecting methanol by the taste. If you feel nauseous, have headaches and shortness of breath and experience any vision problems get yourself some medical help.

The only way to avoid this is to drink only from sealed containers that you open yourself or see opened. Avoid the local spirit Arak. Most cases of methanol poisoning seem to be associated with this drink. We can’t believe we’re saying this, but bucket drinks are probably safer than over-the-bar spirits because you get a sealed bottle of spirits and a soft drink to mix yourself. Just don’t drink more than one, and pace yourself!

• Danger: other schoolies!

Possibly the greatest danger facing any young Aussies on schoolies, is other young Aussies on schoolies. If there’s going to be a fight, a king-hit, or act of random violence it may come from one of your own.

The natural instinct for some when confronted is to rise to the challenge — and that’s how trouble comes to visit. If you bump into another bloke and spill his drink, offer to buy him a new one. Make this about making new friends not starting a fight to show how tough you are.

• Avoiding trouble

The best way to have a safe schoolies is to avoid the situation. Don’t go to the big, busy bars full of drunken school-leavers. Sure, go ahead and have a party with friends at Bali, but have it at a quieter bar, or in a villa with invited guests.

Or even better, do something else as a way of celebration, like help those less fortunate.