Eight Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Ontario teacher education students arrive in Wagga Wagga and Albury this week to work in local schools. The Canadian students will then continue their antipodean travels before returning to Ontario for their graduations in June. This will be the second visit from Bachelor of Educational Studies (Primary Teaching) students from CSU in Ontario. Last year seven CSU in Ontario students spent time in Australia, where they got up close and personal with some native animals at Dubbo’s Western Plain Zoo and described the countryside as “very rural and very flat. It’s not desert but there’s not much green. It’s brown and dusty.” One student travelling to Australia this week, Ruth Markuc said, “I've always wanted to come to Australia and I think it will be an amazing opportunity to teach there. I would love to meet as many people and animals as possible. I really want to see a koala bear and a kangaroo while I'm there”.

While grain growers rejoice, a Charles Sturt University (CSU) livestock expert is warning recent widespread rainfall across New South Wales and Victoria brings risks as well as great benefits for pastoralists. Professor Kym Abbott from the CSU School of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences Wagga Wagga Campus says sheep flocks and cattle herds face the increased threat of parasitic infestation over the next four to six weeks as parasite larvae, that had lain dormant in the soil, move onto pastures. He is urging sheep and cattle producers to closely monitor parasite egg counts over the next few months to treat sheep if necessary but avoid the excessive use of drenches. Professor Abbott says sheep and calves in particular risk weight loss and scour from parasites such as Brown Stomach worm, Black Scour worm and Nematodirus which thrive after prolonged periods of drought.

Sharing knowledge and skills on current environmental issues facing Australia is the aim of the national Students of Sustainability conference being held in Perth, Western Australia in July. About 20 Charles Sturt University (CSU) students, many from the University’s School of Environmental Sciences, are currently raising funds to attend the conference, which runs from Monday 9 to Friday 13 July. The students aim to practice what they preach, hiring a bus rather than flying, which places more greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide in the upper atmosphere. “Environmental issues and sustainable living are providing increased concern and awareness within our local community. Students who participate will share the knowledge and experiences they gain in Perth with the Albury community and CSU students,” student leader Peter Barrett said. The group already has donations from the CSU School of Environmental Sciences, the Albury-Wodonga Campus and the local student association and is seeking further assistance from the Albury-Wodonga community.

Images capturing how students can learn "from the heart" make up an exhibition opening in the Albury City Council Chambers foyer in June. The photographs were taken as part of a collaborative project between speech pathology and photography students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the parents of children with significant disabilities. The local parents are employed as tutors for the second year CSU speech pathology students in a project funded by Albury City. The images were taken while the speech pathology students were working directly with the local parents and their families in their homes. "Through their direct involvement in our course, these parents contribute to educating a generation of speech pathologists who are highly aware of issues and conflicts associated with parenting a child with severe communication difficulties," project coordinator Dr Ruth Beecham said. As part of the exhibition and the project, members of the public are invited to comment on the photographs and the messages shown through them.

Allied health students and staff from Charles Sturt University (CSU) leave this month to spend up to six weeks working with children in a Vietnamese orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. The students will gain important practical experience working with the children, many of whom have severe disabilities, while demonstrating and passing on their expertise to orphanage staff. Organised by the University’s School of Community Health, this is the sixth visit by health students and staff to the Phu My orphanage which provides schooling and health care for around 350 orphans. The 13 students, who study physiotherapy, speech pathology and occupational therapy, have raised $1 200 from student clubs and fundraising to purchase resources and equipment for the orphanage and pay for Vietnamese interpreters.

Is your organisation looking for enthusiastic and able volunteers for a short term project in the Albury-Wodonga community? Up to 200 first year students from the School of Community Health on Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Albury-Wodonga Campus are seeking at least 40 hours work in Border community organisations. Podiatry lecturer Harriet Farquhar said the project helps students learn the value of volunteer community work and the types of volunteer organisations in the Australian community. “Allied health professionals need to understand that through their professions they are serving their community in a helping role, working with a range of people and institutions,” Ms Farquhar said. The student volunteer project – totalling at least 8 000 hours of community assistance – is also a compulsory part of students’ practical work for CSU allied health degrees. Organisations wanting to learn more about the student volunteer project contact CSU staff on telephone (02) 6051 6820.

Five Charles Sturt University (CSU) middle school teaching students will travel to the United States this July to learn more about the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) education program. Maree Arnold, Erin McCabe, Melissa Loats, Lauren O'Shea and Sean Walker will participate in the latest professional development work with middle and high school teachers throughout the United States when they attend the AVID Summer Institute in San Diego, California. In addition to the conference, the students will tour local middle schools, work with local high school students and meet other education students from San Diego. CSU middle school education course coordinator Dr Sally Knipe said this was an opportunity for pre-service teachers to acquire professional insights into a highly successful program designed to increase academic performance and entry into university

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Bluebottles water polo team promise to put some ‘sting’ into the Eastern Conference Challenge competition to be held in Sydney next week. The team comprises seven CSU students from Albury-Wodonga and two from Bathurst. Six of the Bluebottles are top grade players who have represented the Ovens & Murray Association, NSW and Australian Country Teams. The CSU Bluebottles will be competing against teams from Sydney, NSW, Canberra and Newcastle universities. Captain Matt Hogan has spent the last three years playing in England after stints with the Cronulla Sharks and Canberra Dolphins in the Australian National League. "We are going to Sydney to be competitive. We are aiming for a top three finish in Sydney so we can go to the Australian University Games on the Gold Coast in September,” Matt said.

What does religion have to do with farming – and vice versa? Quite a lot, according to Dr Judith Crockett, lecturer in social sustainability at the Orange Campus of Charles Sturt University. She identified three distinct groups of farming families: the non-religious, the religious – who make occasional trips to church, often for social reasons, and Christian, whose “whole lives are permeated by their Christian beliefs and values”. These families tend to exhibit quite distinct gender and family relationships, have fewer problems with “succession planning” - the transfer of the farm between generations – and, “many are very progressive sustainable managers of land, very involved in Landcare as well as broader community activities,” said Dr Crockett. “That is because they see themselves as caretakers of the land rather than the owners of it.”