Jauniqca lands her dream job at Etherial Fitness Studio

Meet our deadly IYMP Brisbane participant Jauniqca Ryan-Anderson who has landed her dream job recently as a dance teacher at Ethereal Fitness Studio.

Jauniqca has been a participant with IYMP Brisbane since June last year, and since then she has successfully completed Certificate II in Retail and Café operations and is now currently completing her Certificate IV in Dance Teaching and Management.

Jauniqca recently celebrated her graduation for her Certificate II with her family and the IYMP Brisbane team who have supported her in achieving this qualification. The IYMP Brisbane team are extremely proud of Jauniqca and her dedication, hard work, and resilience in working towards her qualifications and to land her dream job.

The whole IYMP family are extremely proud of Jauniqca and all her accomplishments, and we would like to wish her all the best in her new role!

Rocky’s Recreational Activities

Over the past few months our IYMP Rockhampton participants have held some deadly recreational activities and are making the most of the NRL’s relocation to Queensland.

IYMP Rockhampton staff and participants were excited to learn that Game 1 of State of Origin was moved to Townsville’s Qld Country Bank Stadium. IYMP secured 10 tickets with a mix of QLD and NSW supporters, very eager to see their favourite NRL players playing right in front of them.

Our IYMP Rockhampton coordinator Norma along with her participants, also made the trip to Brisbane last month and attended the thriller game of Round 23 at Suncorp Stadium watching South Sydney Rabbitohs take on the Penrith Panthers. The Rocky site were also excited to find out that the NRL would be hosting the NQ Cowboys and the Saint George Illawarra Dragons for the Round 24 match on their home turf at Browne Park.

Apart from watching footy the IYMP Rocky participants were lucky enough to attend the Lennon Bros Circus when they visited Rocky which was a new and exciting experience for many. The ladies also had the opportunity to have an outing at Funzone, leaving the fellas at home at home to watch the footy. The ladies made the most of their night out winning enough tickets to take home prizes as well.

At the beginning of this month our Rocky participants from both accommodations came together for their Wednesday night combined dinner and rec activity. Our Residential Worker Uncle Jason and Jared cooked up a deadly BBQ feed before they hit the cement court for a 3 vs 3 basketball game (it was super intense and went on for over an hour).

It’s great to see our IYMP Rockhampton site so active and making the most of their opportunity to get out and have some fun!

Elishua and Emeliah complete their traineeships and secure full-time employment

Pictured with Community Services Trainer Karen Washington (middle), IYMP Adelaide participants Elishua Norris (left) and Emeliah Boardman (right) complete their traineeships with the Tauondi Aboriginal College in Port Adelaide and both secure full time employment.

Recently two of our IYMP Adelaide participants completed their traineeships with the Tauondi Aboriginal College in Port Adelaide. Elishua Norris successfully completed a Certificate III in Community Services and Emeliah Boardman successfully completed a Certificate III in Business Administration.

We are extremely proud to announce that both young ladies have also been offered full-time employment with the organisations where they completed their traineeships. Elishua Norris will be staying with the South Australian Police Force (SAPOL) and will be working in The Health, Safety and Welfare Branch. Emeliah Boardman will be staying with Tauondi Aboriginal College as a Project Assistant working closely with the compliance team, while also completing her Certificate III in Community Services with Career Employment Australia.

We would like to thank the Tauondi Aboriginal College, the South Australian Police Force, our amazing IYMP Adelaide team, and all of those involved in helping these girls achieve their educational goals. We are all immensely proud of Elishua and Emeliah’s hard work and achievements, and the whole IYMP family would like to wish them all the best in their future endeavours!

IYMP Brisbane take part in the #RunSweatInspire Festival

Last weekend six of our IYMP Brisbane Participants and staff travelled to the Gold Coast to participate in the #RunSweatInspire Festival, an annual virtual running and walking event in celebration of NAIDOC Week. The participants and staff have dedicated to making heathier choices throughout the year exercising to improve their physical and mental health.

Our IYMP Brisbane team for the fun run consisted of Huia Gillies (IYMP Brisbane Coordinator), Bella Rolston, Stanley Nona, Hisanori Doi, Lachlan Bon (Project Officer) and Nia Seden (Project Officer). There were other participants that were unable to attend due to work commitments but also trained and dedicated to make healthier choices for themselves.

The staff in Brisbane decided to compete in the #RunSweatInspire Festival as the Indigenous Marathon Foundation (IMF) Marathon team for 2021 has a very special member Waynead Wolmby. Waynead is an IYMP Alumni who has become an incredible leader in his community and continues to inspire other youth to make healthier choices. We were inspired by his dedication and wanted to support Waynead and the IMF Team by taking part in the virtual fun run.

The whole IYMP family are extremely proud of all those involved in the fun run, and we are proud to say that the proceeds from the registration fee and the merchandise that was purchased for the event goes towards the Indigenous Marathon Foundation team. We would like to wish Waynead and the IMF team all the best in their training for the Marathon.

You can also read this story on our Facebook and LinkedIn pages!

You can also read Waynead’s story here: https://www.facebook.com/TheMarathonProject/posts/4296507303747860

You can visit the Indigenous Marathon Foundation website to find out how you can get involved: https://www.imf.org.au/get-involved/

Terrence wears the Willetton Football club’s new Indigenous jersey with pride

Our IYMP Perth participant Terrence Boxer and the Willetton Footy club in Perth celebrated NAIDOC week this year in an Indigenous Guernsey designed by former player Quentin Shandley from Fitzroy Crossing.

Quentin was a participant with IYMP from 2019 to 2020 who successfully completed a Certificate II and III in Civil Construction. Terrence Boxer a current participant from Mount Hardman, can be seen showing off the new Indigenous guernsey on game day. Both the Colts team and the A-grade team wore the guernsey with pride. The guernseys are now available for sale as they have proven to be very popular.

The whole IYMP family is extremely proud of Quentin and his deadly design, and we are proud to see Terrence also wear it with pride!

Quency secures an apprenticeship with Australian Professional Galvanizing

Meet our deadly IYMP Cairns participant Quency Babia from Mabuiag Island who has completed his Certificate II in Engineering Pathways and has successfully gained an apprenticeship with Australian Professional Galvanizing (APG).

“My journey was long and challenging, I knew I would need a lot of support to help get me through, and IYMP was with me every step of the way.”

Quency started his journey with IYMP Cairns at the beginning of the year after completing year 11 while boarding at Herberton. Quency wanted to relocate to Cairns to further his studies in the metal fabrication industry at Tafe and found a second home with IYMP Cairns. Quency began studying a Certificate II in Engineering Pathways with TAFE North Queensland and his great attendance, motivation, and good work ethic, did not go unnoticed. His TAFE teacher was so impressed that he put Quency forward as the ideal candidate for an apprenticeship advertised with APG in Cairns.

We are all very proud of Quency’s hard work and achievements and we are proud to say that Quency was offered the apprenticeship with APG. Quency has already achieved so much this year and the whole IYMP family would like to wish him all the best in his future endeavors!

Shaylem is awarded the Trainee of the Year at the 2021 South Australia NAIDOC Awards

Meet our deadly IYMP Adelaide participant Shaylem Wilson who was awarded the Trainee of the year for the 2021 South Australia NAIDOC Awards. Last week our IYMP Adelaide Coordinator Kevin Coleman had the opportunity to see Shaylem receive this award at the NAIDOC AWARDS luncheon at the Adelaide Convention Centre.

Shaylem was an Administration Assistant at Tauondi Aboriginal College, and it was here she successfully completed a Certificate III in Business Administration as part of her Traineeship. Upon completion, she took up another traineeship at the Department of Defence and gained a Diploma in Project Management which Shaylem was nominated for the NAIDOC Trainee of The Year Award.

After successful completion of these traineeships, Shaylem decided she wanted to work in Aboriginal Education and took a short contract at the South Australian Aboriginal Education & Training Consultative Council (SAAETCC) as the Project Officer. During this period, she developed a passion for Aboriginal education and training and knew she wanted to continue to work in this field. During her time at Tauondi Aboriginal College and The Department of Defence, Kevin and his team supported Shaylem as an independent live-out participant, and Shaylem has continued to prove she is an excellent student with a great work ethic; qualities she gets from her parents.

Shaylem is now employed at the University of Adelaide and manages Wirltu Yarlu’s Academic Mentoring Program, ensuring Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander students are supported in their studies. Congratulations Shaylem from all the IYMP family on your deadly achievement, and for all the hard work you have put in to receive this accolade!

IYMP Taking Action Towards Reconciliation

It has been super busy these past few weeks for our team at IYMP! Our deadly IYMP Brisbane Dance Group performed at the Gadens Lawyers’ reconciliation event, as well as the Dr Evelyn Scott Memorial Lecture hosted by the Queensland Teachers Union (QTU).

On the 2nd of June, the Gadens Brisbane Reconciliation Plan Working Group hosted a panel discussion and networking event to celebrate Reconciliation Week, and we would like to thank Gadens for inviting us to be a part of such a special event! We would also like to commend our IYMP Brisbane Dance Group for an incredible performance, as well as our IYMP Brisbane participant Lachlan Bon for sharing his stories and insights towards reconciliation on the discussion panel.

Meanwhile our Brisbane, Townsville, and Rockhampton sites participated in fishing workshops run by the Australian Fishing Trade Association (AFTA). These workshops were held over three separate weekends and aimed to share knowledge and understanding of both modern fishing techniques and traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander fishing techniques. Keep an eye out for more deadly footage of these workshops to come.

On the 27th of June, the QTU held their inaugural Dr Evelyn Scott Memorial Lecture and invited IYMP Brisbane to be a part of this event. The Dr Evelyn Scott Memorial Lecture aims to bring people together and to call Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples to action in the pursuit of justice.

The whole IYMP family would like to thank our participants and staff, and all other organisations including AFTA, Gadens, and QTU involved in taking action towards reconciliation.

IYMP Brisbane Participants claim Bronze in the Indigenous Nationals

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student-athletes travelled from across Australia to partake in the 2021 Indigenous Nationals. Two of our deadly IYMP Brisbane participants Lachlan Bon and Chicarnee Pickering (both far-left) represented The University of Queensland in this event claiming third overall in the competition.

Hosted by the event founders, The University of Newcastle and the Wollotuka Institute, over 300 university students representing 17 universities challenged each other in basketball, volleyball, netball and touch football across four days of competition.

The UQ Goorie Goannas kicked off the Indigenous Nationals comp with an incredible team effort, winning 4 out of 5 games, making it to the Semi Finals. Unfortunately, the Australian Catholic University (ACU) team were too strong for the UQ Goorie Goannas knocking them out in the semi-finals and claiming first place in the Grand Final.

On the second day, the Southern Cross University claimed the 2021 touch football pennant in the Grand Final against the UQ Goorie Goannas who claimed second overall. This was a super tough match for both sides with a final score of 4-2. The UQ Goorie Goannas efforts were rewarded, however, as our IYMP Brisbane participant Lachlan Bon received the Touch Football MVP award!

On the third day, the UQ Goorie Goannas won 6 straight sets across 3 games in the volleyball comp, qualifying for the Semi Finals. On the edge of our seats, our Goorie’s fought to the end, losing 15-13 in the final set against Curtin University.

On the final day, UQ came third in their pool challenging a strong ACU team in the basketball competition. However, ACU prevailed and went on to win their second gold medal for the event.

IYMP was proud to help sponsor such an incredible group of young First Nations people, and the whole IYMP family would like to congratulate the UQ Goorie Goannas on an incredible achievement placing third overall. We would also like to especially congratulate our deadly IYMP Brisbane participants Lachlan Bon and Chicarnee Pickering on their individual efforts!

CareFlight taking action with IYMP through employment

Our deadly IYMP Darwin Coordinator Kylie Rautoka shares her experience in supporting young Indigenous employees at CareFlight and beyond.

“Reconciliation is part of everything we do – not just one week… Reconciliation is about recognising that filling roles with Indigenous employees not only moves a workplace forward, but also families and the community as a whole.”

Our IYMP Darwin team are currently supporting three CareFlight employees; Jordan, Justin and Tanesha. Jordan and Justin are in their first year of a four-year Engineering Apprenticeship and Tanesha has recently commenced her Administration Traineeship.

The whole IYMP family wishes Jordan, Justin and Tanesha all the best in their studies, and we would like to thank Kylie and her team for all of the deadly work they do for young First Nations peoples with IYMP and beyond. We also like to extend our thanks to CareFlight Top End for supporting our IYMP participants and taking action towards reconciliation.