Kel Walls (Team Leader)

Kelvin Walls

13 George Street

Gunnedah NSW 2380

AUSTRALIA

kelwalls52@yahoo.com.au

I have been working for 32 years as a teacher in secondary education. For the majority of that time I have been a Careers Adviser with the NSW Department of Education. My position involves assisting young people to make decisions about their future and access information regarding training and work. Since 1978 there have been full time trained careers advisers in all secondary schools in NSW. I have been fortunate to be one of those teachers. For the last 3 years I have been in an executive position as Head Teacher of Administration at Gunnedah High School.

I began my teaching career at Gundagai in southern NSW, and have taught at several schools around NSW before settling at Gunnedah where I currently work at the Gunnedah High School. This school is run by the NSW Department of Education. My initial teacher training involved a Bachelor of Economics degree and Diploma of Education from the University of New England, Armidale. My subsequent training as a careers adviser was conducted by the NSW Department of Education in Sydney. It involved a 14 week course of training.

I am married to Patricia, who works as a manager of planning at the New England Institute of TAFE, an organization which provides vocational training in the North West Region of NSW. We have two sons, Adam 28, who is employed as an events manager at Wine Selectors, Australia’s largest online wine company; and Travis 25, who is an accountant with Forsyth Accounting Co. Both live and work in Newcastle, the second largest city in NSW, situated on the coast about 4 hours from Gunnedah. Both are active sportsmen participating in football, cricket and golf.

I live in Gunnedah, a town of about 10000 population, which is situated in the North West area of NSW. We are about 5 hours north west of Sydney, the NSW capitol city and 4 hours inland from the coast. The main industry of our area is agriculture with grain, beef, timber and sheep being the dominant products. In recent years coal has reemerged as a major industry of our area after being dormant for a decade. Several mines have opened around the Gunnedah district in the last 3 years and world demand for high quality coal has encouraged this booming industry.

I am a member of the Rotary Club of Gunnedah West. I am currently the Vocational & New Generations Director at the club. My club has 34 members and we are very active in Youth, Community Service, and International Service projects.

In addition to my teaching work and rotary commitments I am a qualified driving instructor, and a qualified coach of the national sport, cricket. Cricket actually occupies a large amount of my weekend time for 2/3 of the year, coaching a development squad in the off season [winter], and representative teams during the summer playing season. I am employed by Cricket NSW as a Regional Director of Coaching, which is an additional outside role to my teaching career. I also operate a program at the school for students where I teach in car practical driving lessons. I actually enjoy seeing students learn and improve their skills behind the wheel. I have been doing this for ten years and have less hair than when I started!

One of my reasons for applying for the Team Leader’s role of this GSE team is that this Rotary District hosted my son Travis in Fairview as a Rotary Exchange Student in 2004. I visited him and met all of his wonderful hosts that year and I would dearly love to once again meet with them as part of this GSE team. We also hosted a Rotary Exchange student from Fort St. John in 2003 who we maintain contact with on a regular basis. I hope to see Arissa and her partner on this exchange.

During our visit to your Rotary District I would like to see/experience the following

Programs for engaging boys/young men in education and training
Career education programs in secondary schools
Administration programs in secondary schools
Vocational programs for students who are disengaged
University preparation activities in schools
Indigenous work programs for the First Nation people
Career Preparation programs/classes in secondary schools
The Rocky Mountains in the spring/summer
Fairview/Fort St
John/Peace River
The Iceland parkway/Jasper