Students shave for their teacher
20 February 2004
Kangan Batman TAFE students will be participating in the World’s Greatest Shave for a Cure on 4 March as part of the Personal Development Strand of their VCAL course but with a very special meaning this year.
The students are participating in the fundraiser for their teacher, Jane Davey, who was recently diagnosed with liver cancer, and is currently undergoing chemotherapy.
Ms Davey, who has been at Kangan Batman TAFE since Term 4 last year, has made such an impression on the students that they had no problems with deciding to shave their heads, or dye their hair for her, to raise money for leukemia research and patient support.
The students, who range in age from 15 to 21, noticed Ms Davey looked different in her staff ID photo than she did in class and asked her why. When Ms Davey explained she had cancer and had dyed her hair blonde in preparation for it falling out later with chemotherapy, the students discussed the possibility of Shave for a Cure as part of their coursework.
The Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning is a new senior school certificate that focuses on a “hands-on” approach to learning. It aims to prepare young people for future employment, education and training.
As part of the Personal Development strand of the course the students undertake community based projects or structured activities that assist the development of teamwork skills, self confidence and other important life skills.
From this came the idea of raising money for the Leukemia Foundation’s Worlds Greatest Shave for a Cure and at the same time showing their teacher how much they support and value her. Ms Davey teaches in the areas of Personal Development, Literacy, Information Technology and Multimedia.
