The first female Aboriginal student sponsored by the Good Samaritan Sisters’ Rural Outreach program has graduated after completing Year 12 at Nagle Catholic College in Geraldton, Western Australia.
Tamara Gamble, whose family lives in the Wheatbelt town of Three Springs, enrolled as a boarder at Nagle Catholic College seven years ago.
The 17-year-old said that finishing secondary school meant she had achieved one of her early goals in life.
“I am also privileged to graduate with all the dedicated supporters I had throughout the years I was at Nagle College,” she said.
“Without their support, I wouldn’t have got this far. I am so proud of what I have done, and what I am setting out to do.”
Tamara, who said she was born to be a leader and a role model for the younger generation, will start a leadership course next year at Murdoch TAFE.
Good Samaritan Sister Anna Warlow, who has been the Co-ordinator of the Good Samaritan Rural Outreach program since it was launched in Western Australia in 2004, said the objective was to support promising students and their families in both rural and remote areas of the State.
“We are delighted that Tamara has applied herself so well and successfully completed her secondary school studies,” Anna said.
“I’m not suggesting it’s an easy road, but we are confident that other Aboriginal students will follow in her footsteps.”
Scholarships awarded under the program provide financial support for students, not only for textbooks but also for uniforms, sporting fees and activities such as leadership courses.
A special fundraiser to assist the project was recently held at the Loreto Primary School Performing Arts Centre in Nedlands. The auction of a painting donated by Aboriginal artist Delys Fraser, who hails from the town of Perenjori, also in the Wheatbelt, attracted strong bidding and sold for $500.
To find out more about the Good Samaritan Sisters’ Rural Outreach program, email Sister Anna Warlow on awarlow@goodsams.org.au
This article, written by Peter Kennedy, was first published in The Record, the newspaper of the Perth Archdiocese.
