Good comes out of crisis

Dignitaries descended on Wallangarra State School recently to officially open the latest addition to the school campus, and it was anything but a dry political event.
Senator John Hogg, a former school teacher, captured the students’ attention as he contrasted his own school days to theirs, when he had to write on slate and erase with a sponge.
Despite it being his third school library opening that day, he said its importance wasn’t diminished.
Wallangarra’s new ‘resource centre’ and other building upgrades under its $325,000 portion of the Building the Education Revolution (BER) program came out of the government’s $42 billion stimulus package to allay the impact of the 2008 global financial crisis.
Senator Hogg’s interaction with the children included a quick history lesson on the Great Depression of the 1920s, and how the stimulus package was designed to avoid similar devastation.
“It was to protect jobs and small business,” Senator Hogg said.
“Forty per cent of the money went to kids, for this and future generations. The new facilities at Wallangarra State School will bring benefits to students for years to come.
“It was a positive investment in a time of crisis. These facilities are changing the way our students learn and are giving teachers and staff a more enjoyable place to work.”
Other improvements to the school under the BER program were the construction and fitting out of a new classroom and the installation of a cutting edge interactive white board.
Senator Hogg was joined at the ceremony by Southern Downs Regional Council Mayor Peter Blundell and Don Grobe, Executive Director of Schools, as well as the parents of children attending the school.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for the whole Wallangarra community to come together and celebrate the new facilities,” Senator Hogg said.