By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
PATSY Huggins owes everything to Doveton College.
“The school has changed my life, I never really thought I was much of anything and now I do,” the 42-year-old single mum said.
After the closure of numerous local schools Doveton College was opened in 2012 with the help of The Colman Foundation which donated $1.8 million to the construction of the school and early learning centre.
The college is the first government school partnership of its kind in Australia and provides education to children under four years old to year nine as well as adult learning.
Ms Huggins has been involved in the college since it opened and said it has given her a purpose in life.
“I’m happier since coming here because I can see that there’s improvement in the whole area,” she said.
Having completed five different courses with Doveton College in the past three years Ms Huggins is finishing a certificate three in education support and is set to start another course in early childhood learning.
“It’s a big step up for me, it means I can actually look at getting a decent job in something that I really like doing and that makes me feel really good,” she said.
A Doveton local for 15 years, Ms Huggins grew up in Sale and said she has put herself through some hard times.
“I can now see where I stuffed up and I don’t want that for my own kids.
“I left school in year 11 and did a receptionist diploma course which got me nowhere and have been unhappy doing factory work since,” she said.
After enduring a severe car accident many years ago, Ms Huggins said she was left with some emotional scarring.
“Every bone in my face was busted and it sent me on a bad path but I’m not there anymore and am in the process of getting my teeth fixed and if it wasn’t for Doveton College I wouldn’t have done any of it,” Ms Huggins said.
Having completed the college’s six week Creating Capable Leaders program, Ms Huggins said she now calls herself a leader.
“Five years ago I would never have thought this would be me, I never thought I’d sit in front of a minister and talk to them, 12 months ago I wouldn’t have done an interview, my confidence has grown so much, this school has even got me to sit in front of a theatre full of ministers and school principals,” she said.
Attending school with her youngest daughter, Rose, Ms Huggins said the college’s early learning centre is giving her daughter a better start in life than her older children had.
“Rose has a much better future – the education is different at Doveton College, she is a lot more settled with our routine, she feels a part of it, too, and I know it’s going to improve her life, she has a lot of resources here that she can fall back on,” she said.
Ms Huggins’s weekly schedule is centred on her studies and the many voluntary groups she is a part of at the college.
“I’m in the parent advisory group, walking club, adult learning, work placement, healthy little rainbows veggie run, dance class and an advocate for Paint the Town REaD,” she said.
A voluntary teacher’s aide to 25 children, Ms Huggins said she eventually wants to work at Doveton College.
“My goal is to get a job so I can take my kids on a holiday to America to see my family.
“I’m not sure if I want to be in the classroom or with the little kids in early learning, that’s why I’m doing both courses,” she said.
Ms Huggins is extremely grateful to The Coleman Foundation and said the school is making Doveton a better place.
“I owe the college too much because I would never have thought I would be in a classroom doing education support, I just thought that I was going to do nothing but factory work for the rest of my life and then I started here and it’s changed the way I look at everything.
“I’ve definitely got a different outlook on life now and I can see that there’s a future, whereas before life was just mundane and boring,” she said.
With new friends and a support network at Doveton College, Ms Huggins said she’s almost proud of herself.
“I’m becoming proud, I’m not quite there yet but I’m getting there.
“Doveton College has made me feel worthwhile and I’m not the only one that this school has helped and I won’t be the last.”
