Well it’s always a big year for our year 12 students graduating, exams and then the biggest party of the year leavers! Leavers WA ran from the 20th to the 24th of November in the Southwest (Dunsborough) and Rottnest Island with over 8,000 young people taking part in celebrations it was an amazing week!
My name is Carley I coordinate the KISS – Keep It Safe Summer program which is part of the WA AIDS Council (WAAC) I spent the week in Dunsborough with an incredible group of volunteers who I am forever grateful for so here’s a little recap and a few pictures to see what we got up to 🙂
Monday is the first official day of celebrations the KISS team alongside Hope Community Services, Red Frogs, Don’t Drink and Drown, headspace and St Johns we welcomed all the leavers during the day who were buying their wristbands and getting pumped for the first night of the Zone also known as the cooler term rave! The first night was fabulous although a little cold that didn’t stop everyone from coming in and having a great night!
Tuesday recovering after the first big day, the KISS team ran the annual pitstop event which is an overall health check activities where leavers have the opportunity to test their sexual health, contraception, nutrition, physical activity, alcohol and other drug knowledge. In preparation of Tuesday evening at the zone, which was dress up night so our leavers celebrated the night away in their favourite sports outfits and team gear (truly believe the winner of the best outfit was a young person wearing speedos all night and googles that’s it dedication it was cold!)
Wednesday mid-way wohoo! and the best day of the week being the Meelup Beach Party! The most amazing beach party hosted by the Don’t Drink and Drown team we all headed to Meelup Beach in Dunsborough to celebrate the young people and keep everyone safe there was DJ’s, water slides, underwater camera, volley ball, food trucks, free water and activities truly an amazing day!
Thursday is the last official day of leavers which is always a great day a bit more chilled so we spent some time going into the accommodation and having conversations about their experiences so far and their future plans which is always really nice to hear. Thursday night is the fourth and final night at the rave buses again bring the leavers out and the line-up for the last time to celebrate with their friends at leavers! Amongst the DJ’s, silent discos, chillout tent, so many awesome rides including bumper cars there was something for everyone.
Again a massive thankyou to our team of volunteers you guys rocked a few of our favourite numbers from the KISS Team for 2017
- 11,200 safe sex packs distributed (with 5 very cool memes on each one!)
- 941 leavers participated in KISS quizzes or activities around their sexual health, alcohol and other drug use
- 17 amazing KISS volunteers who dedicated over 400 hours of outreach wow!
We hope everyone had an amazing time at leavers 2017 and look forward to doing it all over again in 2018!