Steve Hobday, a local Mangrove Mountain student is one of 41 students who have graduated year 12 this year as a part of the Smith Family’s Indigenous Youth Leadership Project (IYLP).
IYLP is a program that funds young Aboriginal people from mostly remote and regional Australia to complete their education in metro capitals at some of the country’s best schools. Steve undertook his HSC schooling at Saint Joseph’s College in Hunter’s Hill and has now applied to study medicine.
The Smith Family’s CEO Dr Lisa O’Brien said: “I congratulate all of our IYLP graduates as they celebrate this special milestone in their educational journey.
“Working together with our partner schools, we also help the students to improve their leadership skills, broaden their educational horizons and develop their aspirations for the future.”
Dr O’Brien said, “The Year 12 or equivalent attainment rate among all young Aboriginal people is 58.5 per cent, a figure signifi cantly below the 86.5 per cent for the rest of the population.
“It is an outstanding result that half of our students have applied for or been accepted into jobs for next year, a further 19 have applied for University or TAFE, and two are taking gap years before starting their studies in 2017.”
Media release,
Nov 17, 2015
Emily Jacob, the Smith
Family