School’s Out appointments to support Wellington queer youth

School’s Out has been actively supporting Wellington queer youth for over a decade, under the umbrella of Wellington Gay Welfare Group (Gay Wellington), a registered charity.

Gay Wellington is pleased to announce the successful applicants for our new part-time School’s Out positions.

Kassie Hartendorp has been appointed to the position of Facilitation Coordinator. In this role Kassie will train and work alongside volunteers, facilitating support and social groups for queer youth in the Wellington region. Kassie has been volunteering for School’s Out as a facilitator over the past year. She has strong organisational skills and experience working with youth in one-on-one and group situations.

George Mapplebeck has been appointed to the position of Program Leader. In this role George will work to grow the School’s Out programme, liaise with school counsellors, principals and other queer youth agencies, run workshops and manage the administration of School’s Out. George has been a Gay Wellington co-chair for the last year and has been actively involved with both Gay Wellington and School’s Out as a volunteer.

These two appointments are for a 12 month period, beginning in mid October 2011. It is the first time we have appointed two people into the roles.

Both Kassie and George will be guided by the three core principles of School’s Out:

For youth by youth – aiming to incorporate youth direction in all activities
Empowerment – building leadership skills and confidence among queer youth
Inclusion – involving everyone in projects and reducing discriminatory barriers to access

It would not be possible to employ Kassie and George without the support of our funders. We’d particularly like to thank the Wellington City Council and The Second AsiaPacific Outgames Legacy Fund for helping get these appointments off the ground. We welcome any new funders to contact us and help to provide ongoing financial support for School’s Out.

We hope the Wellington GLBTI community, along with the current School’s Out members and volunteers, are as excited about the new leadership team and the future of School’s Out as we are. Congratulations Kassie and George.

Stu
Co-chair, Gay Wellington

Contact us: helpline@gaywellington.org
Phone/text School’s Out: 027 763 9793