TLG Partner Spotlight: The Rotary Club of the Batavia Coast
Teach Learn Grow is fortunate to have the support of many great partners in local Australian communities who make it possible for volunteers to travel to rural and remote schools each year.
TLG tutors get dropped off by the Rotary Club members at Cue Primary School
The Rotary Club of the Batavia Coast in Geraldton is a committed partner of TLG, sharing TLG’s goals of community empowerment and education. TLG Rural Programs would not be possible without the amazing Rotary Club members who generously volunteer their time and resources to help tutors reach many regional communities, including Cue, Meekatharra, Mullewa, and Yalgoo.
Tom Thujis has been a member of the Rotary Club of the Batavia Coast for 15 years and has played a vital role in helping to organise and transport TLG tutors. Tom described the role of the Rotary Club as an opportunity for members to reach out and provide support in their local community. ‘I’d like to think that Rotary picks up causes or projects that might not otherwise get off the ground,’ he said. ‘Rotary Clubs all look at projects at a local level, regional level, national level, and international level… And it’s at the regional level we get involved with things like TLG. We are aware that TLG comes to our town, and our role is helping TLG get out to do their work in more remote communities.’
When asked what first motivated him to help TLG, Tom explained how his son had tutored with TLG in the past, prompting him to enlist help from the local community in transporting tutors. ‘My son asked how we could assist in that regard, and that’s where the connection started. It started at a personal level, when I had a look at my contacts, which of course included the Rotary Club. So I called some of my mates, and that was the first step in getting a bus and overnight accomodation for the drivers organised.’
Another member of the Rotary Club who has helped TLG by transporting tutors in the past is Tom Gorman. Tom has been a dedicated member of the Rotary Club of the Batavia Coast for seven years, but his support for the Rotarian cause has persisted since joining a local Rotary Club in Queensland. ‘Rotary service clubs have a great ethos,’ he shared, ‘which is about doing good things in the community, or helping good things to occur.’ Tom has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Rotary Club’s continued involvement with TLG, engaging with tutors and livening up the long bus journeys to remote communities. ‘When I heard about TLG, I found that the overall benefits of the program on both sides of the fence, for the uni students and the schools you visit, were just amazing.’
TLG volunteers arrive at Mullewa District High School
Tom also expressed that he ‘loves the idea that there are students from Perth going to regions in WA they would otherwise never go to.’ He said that from his point of view, the TLG Rural Program offers not only great engagement for local communities, but also unique opportunities for the volunteers involved. ‘[The tutors] go there for a completely altruistic service, and it gets them outside their comfort zone and into a space where they themselves will benefit from the experience.’
As Community Service Director of the Rotary Club of the Batavia Coast and Chairwoman of local TLG partner school Rangeway Primary School, Jen Edwards has had the opportunity to see the effects of TLG’s one-on-one tutoring first hand. ‘I work very closely with a local school in Geraldton… and I’ve just seen the positive hands-on impact it’s had on the school community here. [The students] just soak up every second of the time when the TLG volunteers are up here.’
Tom Thujis also shared how he believes TLG is making an impact at rural and remote schools. ‘[The students] need to be provided with as many opportunities as they possibly can. If they are not provided with these opportunities, then they will only do what everyone else in their community does, so they see a police officer, a nurse, and they see teachers… but theres a whole lot of world out there that they don’t see. Teach Learn Grow tutors all have a reasonably varied background as well as educations, and some of that may or may not rub off onto the local communities, but at least if there is a dialogue occurring then the students are seeing something different.’
Members of the Rotary Club of the Batavia Coast
From November, TLG tutors will be returning to many schools and communities in the Midwest and would like to thank all of the hard-working members at the Rotary Club of the Batavia Coast for their ongoing support of TLG’s Rural Programs.
For more information on the Rotary Club of the Batavia Coast please visit to their website here.