Jarrod MacKenzie and Cameron Halmi from Hastings Secondary College along with teacher Lloyd Godson were invited to present their dog therapy program at the Design for Change Conference in Taiwan on December 1-2.

The dog therapy pilot program was led by five student leaders ​Jarrod Mackenzie, Karlee Osborne, Bonnie Neil, Satina Torres, Tammy Briggs and Cameron Halmi and has gone from strength to strength over the last semester.

“It was so exciting to be picked as the Australian representatives to the conference and the whole things was a lot of fun,” Jarrod said.

“We got to try new foods and meet lots of people from all over the world and find out about some really great projects kids are doing at schools.

“In the beginning it was a bit terrifying because there were so many people there but as soon as we started our presentation it was really fun and everyone was cheering for us which was cool.”

Because the boys made such an impact at the conference Cameron has been picked to be on a special student ambassador to help decide who is being sent to the conference in 2019.

Selected to personally work with Kiran Sethi, founder of Design for Change, Cameron will be on the student panel for the Be The Change conference in Rome where the Pope will join in the festivities. 

Cameron will help judge the top 100 best projects in the world to present at the Vatican.

“Everyone had a great positive attitude and even when people got on stage and messed up their presentation everyone was cheering them on,” Cameron said.

“It was such a supportive atmosphere that everyone came together and were really positive and motivating.

“I have also been picked as a student ambassador so I will be mentoring students from across the world about the conference in preparation for next year.

“I am very excited and the conference next year is in Rome at the Vatican City and we will get to meet the Pope.”

Mr Godson said conference was all about students being able to share the projects they are doing to make their school a better place.

“Our dog therapy program was the Australian team chosen to go to Taiwan and share why we thought dogs helping students with their mental health was a good idea,” Mr Godson said.

“The average age of students at the conference was 12 years old and there were students from all over the world talking about different problems they had identified in their school and how they were overcoming them.

“It really was an incredible opportunity for them and the whole conference was student focused and run so it was all about them which is really important.”

Mr Godson said with the next conference in November 2019 the push is on to get as many students from Australia (and Port Macquarie) to Rome as possible.

“With Cameron being a student ambassador for the next conference we are hoping that instead of just two students we can send up to 40 students from all over Australia to Rome,” he said.

“Any student from anywhere in the world can apply to the Design for Change Conference as it is all about students identifying problems or issues at their school and coming up with ways to fix or help them.

“Next year we will be running information sessions for the wider community so they can find out more about it all.”

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