Exciting VAS Community Programme activities
In early Jan of 2017, Vietnam Australia International School (VAS) was abuzz with an exciting music program run with the purpose of fundraising for and promoting the community project "Building good behavior towards gender issues in puberty". The program was organized by VAS high school students.
Singer Dam Vinh Hung visited and voluntarily performed in the programs
This is one of many significant activities in the Community Programme 2016-2017 –implemented by VAS for elementary and middle school students, which calls on the students to build a more civilized and better society. Outshining nearly 100 projects in the preliminary round, the projects on sex education (5T Group, Sunrise campus), on supporting children with heart diseases (The Swimming Sparrow Group, Garden Hills campus) and on environmental protection by sorting the waste at the beginning (5th grade students, Ba Thang Hai campus) have won the tickets to go through to the second phase which is the implementation for fundraising.
The propaganda activities of 5T group on sex education
In Vietnamese culture, sex education is still considered to be a sensitive matter and it is a delicate matter at school and home. However, through posters, funny science videos and pictures, the students of 5T group cleverly introduced the message about the psychological and physical development of boys and girls at puberty, and the prevention and reaction to abusive situations. The group worked with an allocated budget provided by the organizer to execute the project and print publications. They also organized a charity music program and sold snacks & beverages during the show. The good intentions of the project, were recognized by the singer Dam Vinh Hung who agreed to participate in and perform as a guest singer on the program.
The 5T group organized the fundraising programme
Huynh Nguyen Quynh Anh, class 9.2, 5T Group’s member said: "Sex education is a very important issue for adolescents but parents are less concerned or afraid to share with their children. The possible consequences are that the children easily fall into ignorance, which leads to being abused, unwanted pregnancies, HIV, suffering from depression or even life-threatening danger. We chose the topic of education of Building good behavior towards gender issues in puberty as it is a way to help students understand themselves, to overcome the stigma of sex change and call for the parents’ attention to their children at this stage." After the program at the Sunrise campus, 5T group will continue the fundraising activities in the other four VAS campuses and through facebook.
The Swimming Sparrow Group donated money for heart surgery for pediatric patients
The runner-up of the program was the Swimming Sparrow Group from Garden Hills campus with the project "Children suffering from heart disease.” On 16.12.2016, after launching the fundraising period, the group sponsored the heart surgery for Do Thi Van Anh and Ho Thi Thu Huong. Each patient was supported with 30 million vnd. The students collected 50 million vnd from other organizations and individuals. With these contributions, they became guests on the reality show “Love connection”, dedicated to children with heart diseases and charitable heart surgery activities, hosted by HTV9 channel.
The project "The ideas about pollution" by two grade 5 students from Ba Thang Hai campus also received a lot of attention. Even at this very young age, the children have a high sense of environmental awareness and actively call for community response. They have placed recycling bins in the school, and created posters calling the students to sort garbage at the VAS campuses. They have also organized music programs for fundraising and promoting environmental protection measures to other students.
The Swimming Sparrow group was invited to the reality program "Love connection" hosted by HTV9
This is the first time Vietnam Australia International School has launched a community program for the students throughout VAS the system. This programme will help the students express their sense of responsibility to the community, which is one of the criteria for making a good impression when preparing to study abroad or applying for an international scholarship. In addition, the project also provided an opportunity for students to become familiar with planning and organizing events and to inspire other students and the community through the core values: National Pride, Respect and Teamwork.
