A couple of months ago, we did a thing.
After 18 months of planning and generous support from some great local businesses and volunteers, Samford Parklands parkrun is official!
There’s been a whole lot of learning to make this happen. Luckily, volunteer experience can count towards Recognition of Prior Learning!
It’s even become a family affair, with Randall and I loving seeing our two teenagers and two adult offspring volunteering and participating together too.
In the last 9 weeks, we’ve clocked up 2939 finishes.
1736 people have come out to participate and we’ve had 91 volunteers making the whole thing possible.
We started in September, when it was cool, and everyone was feeling fresh… Now, in November, Queensland is bringing the heat and crossing that finish line, whether you’ve been running, jogging or walking, is bringing more red, sweaty faces.
This end of the year can really take it out of you.
And it’s not just the heat that kicks in.
We’re hearing it at Churchill as people talk to us about their working lives.
There can be the lingering sense of good intentions not realised, projects so deep in but with the finish line still ahead. Workloads are heavy. And the problems at work seem like they are on rinse and repeat.
As they log on and off each day, there’s a sense that something really needs to change in their working lives.
They are weary.
But they’ve called.
And that means someone else is there to back them up in getting across the finish line.
And that makes all the difference.
I see it at parkrun each week.
I stand at the same place, where the turnaround point to head out for the second lap crosses over with the entrance to the finish funnel.
I stand right there, and I call encouragement to every single person on the course.
I watch people whose heads are hanging, look up and find that energy to keep running, keep walking. They find a bit of banter, and a grin.
Sometimes, I slip in beside them and run through to the finish line with them. That company for the last stretch can make all the difference.
It’s my mantra each week for parkrun – to encourage and to be encouraged.
We’re here to see you through to the finish line.
And for the people who come to Churchill, looking at the finish line of this working year, wanting to make a change in their working lives, to get promoted, to get out, to get ahead.
We’re in this with you too.
If you’re sensing that November weariness, if you had a goal this year for your career and you haven’t got there yet, if you’ve been meaning to start pulling your qualifications into shape to match your experience, the race is not done yet.
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is all about what you learn during the course of your career. For many people, when they have finished their RPL and they receive their qualifications, it is a triumphant moment, worthy of a fist pumping finish line celebration.
Getting through the RPL process, you have the team at Churchill Education to help you – to slip in beside you, guide you on the work examples to provide and our Assessors are here to help you too.
Our goal is always to get you through to the finish line where you join the ranks of the Churchill Education Alumni.
And if you’re in the neighbourhood, come say hello at Samford Parklands parkrun.
We’d love to see you!
Tricia Velthuizen
