Chelsea Wood, 13, had always wanted to perform her own music and start a band.
She said a school-based program called Virtual Academy had given her the courage to get up and sing.
“I’m really happy that I was able to share something that I’ve been doing for a while now, I’m quite proud of myself,” she said.
Run by the Catholic Schools Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, the gifted education program gives year five to year eight students a chance to explore their passions and interests.
Gifted education lead Maree Karaka said students were able to take their learning beyond the curriculum and connect with issues in their communities.
“It’s about critical and creative thinking, it’s about problem-solving. We need to start to navigate for tomorrow, not just for today,” she said.
The bespoke program is offered to 58 schools across the diocese with 160 students getting involved across the 15-week semester.
Academic experts and educators interact with students through online sessions, incursions and excursions.
This week, students got a chance to showcase their hard work at the University of Newcastle NUspace.
“From their research they need to unpack what the problem is in society and how we can explore solutions to that,” Ms Karaka said.
Ms Karaka said students chose to focus on a wide range of issues including the influence of social media, equity and inclusion, neurosciences, coding and technology.
“These are students that are going to be writing our prescriptions one day, these are exceptional minds,” she said.
Attending Catherine McAuley Catholic College, Ms Wood said she explored self-reflection through song which involved composing, producing and performing her own music.
“It is about how I don’t need to worry because there will always be someone there,” she said.
“I’ve always grown up loving music, and I think I’ve just always had a passion for music,” she said.
Ms Wood said the program was helping her reach her goal of putting herself out there and potentially finding a career in music.
“It [Virtual Academy] lets people express an opinion and an emotion through different things,” she said.
