Cold night offers ‘eye-opening experience’ for local Year 12 students

The night provided the students and the broader school community with an insight into the hardships experienced by homeless people in the winter.

CAGS Year 12 student Ben Curnick said it was far from a comfortable night’s rest.

“The hardest thing was not being able to sleep. I reckon I got about four hours overall. Every time somebody came past, I woke up,” he said.

Olivia Thompson said the drop in degrees was the most difficult aspect for her.

“The most challenging part was definitely the temperature. It got really cold,” she said.

“It made me feel empathetic to people who really have to sleep rough.”

Jack Brown said, while it was a challenging experience, he was glad to gain an understanding of the struggles homeless people were faced with.

“I initially thought I could sleep on two cardboard boxes outside, and it would be fine, but I woke up at 2am, and I was cold,” he said.

“I was miserable, and I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I had to use my sleeping bag as a last resort, which goes to show the struggles that people who are less fortunate have every day.

“It was good to have this eye-opening experience.”

Heidi Franklin agreed, saying, “it made me realise not to take things for granted”.

The sleepout was part of CAGS’ broader winter appeal, which also involved the school’s Giving Day.

During the Giving Day, school families and staff donated non-perishable food and toiletry items to Moira FoodShare for community distribution.

Ben said support was always available.

“There are good people out there and services that can help you,” he said.