By Briar Sinclair
WHEN Hobsons Bay mayor Renee Caruana returns to teaching at Mount St Joseph’s Girls College next year it will be natural for her to help the student council.
While she did not seek the role, Cr Caruana said it was something to which she was looking forward.
“I will be teaching maths and science, and I will have a role to play in assisting the student representative council,” she said.
“I’m very excited about that.”
Cr Caruana last week ruled out seeking another term as mayor, but wants to continue working on the projects she propelled over the past year.
“I still consider teaching a vocation as well, and I’m just happy to have served the community,” she said.
“In terms of my mayoralty program, my focus was on post secondary opportunities and promoting the WynBay Local Learning and Employment Network (LLEN), greening the city and volunteering.
“The way it’s turned, I have set up my scholarship program for Hobsons Bay students who study or go on to study VCAL or VET in schools, and subjects they had to take were engineering-related subjects to promote technology studies.
“And a memorandum of understanding has been initiated with Hobsons Bay Council and Victoria University to have a presence in the Altona Meadows library, which opens in January or February in 2006.
“That is for young people or anyone interested in furthering their education to look up possible courses they may want to undertake at VU.”
Cr Caruana said she discovered there was a real need to expand a careers expo held in Wyndham because many Hobsons Bay secondary schools went to it.
“In the past it has been a very crowded affair.
“From my mayoralty program, we are going to run it over two days and give a greater scope for Hobsons Bay schools to attend.
“It’s about giving senior secondary students in Hobsons Bay, and within the WynBay LLEN, time to think about and investigate their career options while industries exhibit at the careers expo.
“This is a trial at this point to see if Hobsons Bay wants to make this a permanent venture.”
Cr Caruana said one highlight of her mayoral term was when Hobsons Bay earlier this month hosted Community Cabinet.
“From what I heard, the people who had made submissions to the cabinet believed they were well heard,” she said.
Cr Caruana said she was happy council had adopted a community engagement framework, a post compulsory education community reference group had formed and that more trees had been planted in the municipality.
“With regard to volunteers – a volunteer ambassador program was undertaken to engage with volunteer groups and to find out ways in which we could promote volunteering in our community.
“Volunteers are an asset in our community, and I hope I can work on this throughout my remaining term as a councillor.
“It’s about keeping volunteerism alive in our community and looking at ways council and volunteer groups can better work together on community projects.”
Cr Caruana said she felt the council had engaged positively with the community over the past year.
“The mood has been generously positive, and where there are problems I will work with administration and the complainer to ensure the best outcome has been achieved,” she said.
“I feel I’ve developed some skills throughout my mayoralty, and I am thankful that I have been able to serve the community in this capacity, particularly when I’ve grown up in this area.”
Cr Caruana will be on leave from 7 to 13 December, and most of January, to prepare for the academic year ahead.
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