Scotch College

Mittagundi link alive and well

During the September vacation Year 10 student Charles Blanch reactivated an important Scotch link when he embarked on a 10-day sojourn at Mittagundi Outdoor Education Centre deep in East Gippsland’s remote Glen Valley.

Charles Blanch

Mittagundi was the brainchild of 1998 Perelberg Award winner Ian Stapleton, and since its establishment in 1978 has provided thousands of young people in groups of 20 with a challenging personal experience. Its philosophy is to take students back to their needs rather than what they are used to. It mixes young people from different backgrounds, some of whom may have serious social and emotional problems A maximum of 24 young people attend the camp at any one time. The program blends shared responsibility for community cooking and camp maintenance work with outdoor activities such as abseiling and white-water rafting. ‘Survival is basically up to the young people themselves’, Charles explained.

As had his brother Sam (class of 2004), Charles valued his experiences at Mittagundi. ‘They helped me to reshape my priorities. In fact one of the boys I was with from my previous school had a complete makeover as a result of his experiences’, he added.

The Blanch family continue to be great supporters of Mittagundi. Charles’ father Graham (Class of 1969) is a long-standing member of the Board of Management.