First Nations high school students are in the final stages of a three-day Strong Moves Camp at Charles Sturt University's Orange campus aimed at helping them consider post-school career and study options.
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The Strong Moves Camp is presented by Future Moves, a program operated out of Charles Sturt to inspire school students and young people from regional and rural areas to attend university.
Year 9, 10 and 11 students from Orange, Bathurst and Kelso attended.
The camp included a range of educational, cultural and social activities, and some of the students stayed on campus to get a taste of university life.
Thanks to the program I now know I want to go to uni and study community services
- Cooper Hodgson
Charles Sturt Indigenous liaison officer (Future Moves), Nathan Peckham, said the camp builds students' awareness of their post-school career and study options in a fun, engaging and culturally inclusive way.
"The biggest benefit of this program is it is aspiration-building for the students and gets them to think about what their options might be," Mr Peckham said.
"We run a lot of interactive workshops that cover a wide range of courses and focus on leadership and academia, but we also have a lot fun activities and ice-breaker activities thrown in there."
Mr Peckham said some of the students had never been on a university campus before.
The university has been running camps for First Nations students since 2013 at all six of its regional campuses: Orange, Bathurst, Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, Albury-Wodonga and Port Macquarie.
About 1,000 students have participated in the Strong Moves program since its inception.
Activities in the Orange camp included leadership and health sessions, a science workshop, a smoking ceremony, scavenger hunt, drone activity, trivia and tree planting.
Year 11 student Cooper Hodgson participated in the program this year and last.
He said he hadn't really considered going to university before signing up.
"Thanks to the program I now know I want to go to uni and study community services," he said.
"It helps you to plan what you want to do once you leave school, instead of just leaving school and not knowing what to do."
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