ESPERANCE ANGLICAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL
GAP STUDENTS TAKE A BREAK AT SCHOOL Since 2015 students at Esperance Anglican Community School have been able to live on campus, accommodated in built-for-purpose buildings settled in among the native bushland that surrounds the school.
Most of the students are from the farming areas surrounding Esperance, with current residents from places including Salmon Gums, Grass Patch, Cascade, Condingup, Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun. Some come from further afield, with overseas students adding to the diverse mix that makes up the EACS boarding family. This year two gap-year students have joined the locally based boarding house staff to help keep the students happy and settled in their home away from home. Blake Hurly and Zoe Meyer both come from South Africa and are working at EACS as part of the Letz Live scheme, which enables gap-year students from around the globe to work away from home during their academic break.
a boarder after attending Kingswood College at Mhakanda, in South Africa, and is able to empathise with the experience of EACS boarders. Blake’s interests include the outdoors, sport and motor racing, and surfing. He enjoys living in Esperance, making the most of the coffee shops, beaches and the scenery…things locals might take for granted. He takes his job at EACS seriously, describing his role as “getting the students through the day with as few problems as possible”, he also helps the physical education staff at the school with sporting activities, including tennis and cricket. Zoe (19) is from Cape Town in South Africa, so her experience is slightly different from Blake’s. She attended the Rhenish Girls High and lived in a suburban area of the city. Like Blake, she grew up near beaches, so Esperance reminds her a tiny bit of home.
The irony of working at a school during a break from academia is not lost on either Blake or Zoe, but the scheme has provided them with a chance to experience life in another country, not just as a tourist but as a part of the host country’s society.
“Where I lived, there was a city near the beach, and a mall nearby: Perth is very similar,” she said. Zoe said she was using her gap-year away from home to take a break from schoolwork and gain different experiences during that time. When her year in Esperance is over, Zoe intends to pursue studies in marketing.
Blake (19) is from the town of Kidds Beach. While his hometown is smaller than Esperance, it is also a beachside community. He is familiar with life as
Although she is missing her family, she is enjoying her time in Esperance, working with the students who have become her second family.
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