Going to Hawkesbury High School was a very enjoyable and refreshing experience. The environment highly differed to MMCC. On their schools grounds they have a farm with animals such as chickens, cows and sheep and their school population has 20% of students coming from an Indigenous background. We were given a deeper insight into the Aboriginal culture and specific rituals such as the fire ceremony. It was quite interesting to see how the school’s locality affected the population and backgrounds of students. We also learnt about the students at the Islamic school; their religion and how it impacted their uniform which differed from our own school.

Despite Mary MacKillop girls at first being quite timid to interact with students from other schools, through sharing a lunch table and many fun interactive activities, conversations about our interests, culture and PIPs were sparked as well as many long lasting friendships. At the end of the day, not only was it educational, it also allowed us to open our minds and adapt to different environments and learn to utilise our social and cultural literacy.

Overall, it was a great experience. We learnt about the school culture of very diverse schools from different religious and non religious backgrounds. We made new friends and shared our stories and we will continue to be in touch. A big thank you to Mrs Messina for accompanying us.