Students of Business Administration at North Metropolitan TAFE in Perth, WA, with the generous support of the students of Leadership and Management, have undertaken a fundraising and event project for the Dementia Foundation for Spark of Life.
As part of their studies they learnt about planning and implementing projects in the real world. Hilary Lee visited the students in February, 2018 to introduce them to the Spark of Life Philosophy and to the significant work of the Dementia Foundation for Spark of Life.
Part of the project was to organize an event, which was a community presentation, ‘Igniting the Spark of Life in people with dementia’ presented by Hilary Lee at the TAFE Northbridge campus on June 6th 2018.
The students event managed the evening, including all the promotion and catering. Many went beyond their comfort zone, learning to speak publicly to introduce the evening, giving acknowledgement to Country and to close the evening.
There were over 60 participants and the feedback was exceptionally positive. The students also presented the Dementia Foundation for Spark of Life with a cheque of $2600 from their fundraising activities.
Enjoy this video, made by one of the students, which brings alive their commitment to this special project.
The students lecturer, Jo Marshall, said, ‘It is beneficial and wonderful for the students to learn about a group of people (people with dementia) that they don’t necessarily usually think about, although some do have family members who have dementia.’
She also shared, ‘During the project, students learned project planning, teamwork, promotions, customer service, quality control, communication and liaising with suppliers and other stakeholders. This gave them an experiential activity where they could put their course work into a real-life context.’