ST NORBERT College teacher Melanie Robinson has been recognised for her outstanding work promoting Australian Rules football, winning a prestigious AFL Ambassador award.
Mrs Robinson received the award in the ‘Outstanding Multicultural Program’ category for developing and implementing a program designed to give students from multicultural backgrounds greater opportunities to play Australian Rules football.
Six AFL Ambassador awards were presented as the special ceremony on August 10 at Domain Stadium, after 30 finalists were selected from a pool of more than 100 nominations.
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READ NOWMrs Robinson, who is the Head of Health and Physical Education at St Norbert College, said she was both surprised and thrilled to win the award.
“I didn’t know the awards existed and started the program purely for students to get more opportunity to play AFL,” she said.
“The nomination was a surprise so winning was great.”
The program at St Norbert’s began three years ago and developed significantly in the following years.
“This year the program ran over five weeks in class time,” Mrs Robinson explained.
“Each year 7 class had one physical education period per week with the staff from the Nic Naitanui Football Training Program working on skills and game play.”
St Norbert College principal Simon Harvey said the award was a fitting acknowledgement of Mrs Robinson’s hard work and dedication.
“It is another example of the dedication of the St Norbert College staff, including Melanie, to go beyond and excel in their efforts to be role models and to do all they can with the best interests of our students at heart,” he said.
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