Sailing into adventures

A group of students will experience a life-changing voyage this year after earning scholarships to sail on a 1850s-era tall ship.

A total of 25 students across Years 10, 11 and 12 from Karratha Senior High School and St Luke’s College Karratha were last week given the opportunity to sail on STS Leeuwin II, Australia’s biggest sail-training tall ship.

The annual adventure is funded by the Karratha Education Initiative and this year’s voyages will take place in October and December.

Students usually qualify for the scholarship by completing hours in the community, but they were unable to do that this year because of COVID-19 and instead had to sit for an interview.

KSHS deputy principal Ashley Eversden said the voyage was a “great opportunity for regional kids”.

“For these kids it’s an opportunity for them to challenge themselves and to really grasp what’s there,” he said.

“It will be scary at times. On behalf of both schools we really value that partnership that we have with the Karratha Education Initiative, which is guided through Woodside and the North West Shelf.”

St Luke’s Karratha student Nikita Smith is looking forward to the voyage.

“It will be quite fun going out with friends and meeting new people, and the experience will be good,” she said.

“I thought it would be a wicked experience and I spoke to people that have done it before and they said it had been the highlight of high school so I thought I would give it a shot.”

Karratha Senior High School student Wanisa Mohamed, who also went on the voyage last year, said she hoped to gain more confidence in herself during the voyage.

“I am a bit nervous and excited,” she said.

“(I am looking forward to] climbing the mast. I didn’t make it up the whole way last year because I am scared of heights.”