The year 11 and 12 VCAL students spent about six weeks with the elderly residents of Allambi and the hospital to learn about their lives. 

VCAL coordinator Belinda Frost said the students presented their partners with a life book at the end of the session on Wednesday.

She said the project has allowed unlikely friendships to form and was a rewarding experience for both residents and students. 

“It has been so amazing to see how the students have grown over the past six weeks,” she said. “The students’ visited their partners once a week and gave each resident that weekly visitor.” 

Dimboola Memorial Secondary student Sophie Warner was partnered with Graeme Bond. She said Mr Bond was previously a farmer who was diagnosed with the Parkinson’s disease. 

“He really loved his farming. From what I learned we don’t have much in common, but my father does farming and I was able to understand what he was taking about when he referred to things like a header,” she said.

Sophie said the experience was very rewarding because she was able to forge a connection with Mr Bond. 

“The project has allowed me to meet someone that I probably would have never met,” she said. 

VCAL student Brady Paley was paired with Allambi resident June Whitehouse. Brady said he was able to learn about the world from a different perspective. 

“June grew up on the farm. Times were different when she was my age. She would collect eggs from the hens and milk a cow whereas we’d just got to the IGA for all of that,” he said. “This experience was unique and rewarding. I have been able to do something good for her.”