100 Story Building
Ms HALL (Footscray) (09:44): I rise to recognise one of the most creative and fun organisations in all of Melbourne’s west. 100 Story Building, which I am happy to say is based in my electorate of Footscray, is a magical place. It is located 99 levels below a trapdoor filled with strange creatures, mysterious machines and some oversized, slightly aggressive cats. 100 Story Building has worked with more than 3600 students in my Footscray electorate alone across 21 schools. An annual highlight is the Early Harvest program, now in its 10th year. This is Australia’s only creative project that supports primary school students to write, edit and illustrate a professional, published book which you can buy in the shops. This year Footscray Primary School and St Monica’s Primary School are participating, and I cannot wait to see what they come up with.
100 Story Building’s creative writing and story-making workshops foster imagination and inclusion as well as teaching creativity and problem-solving skills. These are lifelong attributes which will be central to the jobs of the future. I visited 100 Story Building recently and they had an extra-special present for me. It was a jar full of words, and my homework was to pick out one and use it in my contribution in Parliament. I will be using them from time to time, so keep an ear out. You never know when I will be making references to ‘kibble-flavoured’ things in the Parliament. I am looking forward to discussing their work with the Minister for Education.