Future community leaders encouraged to 'dream a little bigger' at Goulburn High

This is what High Aspirations Program (HAP) coordinator Kara Stephenson hopes to achieve.

While the program has been run with Year 7 and 8 students previously, it will now be introduced to Year 9 students.

HAP will aim to encourage students to think "more critically" about their career goals and retain more students throughout their senior school years.

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"We've found many students start Year 11 but then they become quite disengaged and just leave when they turn 17. We want to try and keep as many of those students here as we can," Mrs Stephenson said.

The program will target Year 9 students to motivate them to think more about what they want to do when they leave school.

Mrs Stephenson said they also wanted more students to have conversations about their future at home.

"Three quarters of our students will go on to work in the community sector. We want our students to believe in themselves and have the skills that they [need] to be leading in the community," she said.

"Instead of working for the business, why not be the business owner?"

Goulburn High principal Yogesh Mani said the focus for the Year 9 program was engaging in external partnerships.

The school has created connections with the University of Canberra and Health Infrastructure, both of which will be involved in the High Aspirations Program.

Students from the University of Canberra will visit the school to present relevant information to students based on their interests.

There will also be presenters from Health Infrastructure along with on-site visits at Goulburn Base Hospital.

"The whole idea is we want to make sure every child is known, valued and cared for and that every child is successful beyond school," Mr Mani said.

There will also be guest speakers from local community businesses, who Mrs Stephenson said would "promote the advantages of staying and finishing Year 12".

The program was set up three years ago, where the younger students focused on setting career goals, looking at their study habits and creating career plans.

Mrs Stephenson encouraged any businesses keen to be involved in the program to email her at Goulburn-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

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