By Hope Nektar
For years, students at Sunshine College’s North Campus spoke about freezing classrooms and ageing facilities that made learning far more difficult than it should have been. Some parents who had attended the school decades earlier said little appeared to have changed since their day and believed parts of the campus should have been condemned.
Now, after years of frustration, major redevelopment works are finally underway. But for many of the students who fought hardest for change, the improvements have come too late.
The upgrade will deliver a brand-new purpose-built STEM building, new basketball and volleyball courts, outdoor table tennis facilities, an amphitheatre, and a refurbished library, transforming a campus that many felt had been overlooked for far too long.
What makes this redevelopment particularly significant is the role students played in bringing the school’s condition into the public spotlight.
In 2022, students created a video highlighting the poor state of the campus. The footage showed leaking roofs, mould, ageing classrooms, damaged facilities, and learning spaces they believed were no longer fit for modern education. The video concluded with a heartfelt plea to the Victorian Government to provide students with a safe place to learn and to rebuild their school.
The video, still publicly available today, quickly gained widespread attention and was subsequently picked up by mainstream media outlets, many of which expressed disbelief at the condition of the school. The footage sparked conversations throughout the community and raised serious questions about why the campus had been allowed to deteriorate for so long.
Last year, The Westsider was contacted by one of the students who said “You know not one thing has been done to the school since that viral video,” expressing her disappointment that despite all the publicity, little appeared to have changed.
Fast forward to this year and that same student is now in Year 12. While construction has finally begun, she will not be among the students who get to enjoy the finished facilities.
“There are works happening now,” she said, “but I don’t get to see any of it.”
It is a bittersweet reality. The students who endured years of cold classrooms, cracked walls, leaking roofs, and outdated facilities are graduating just as the long-awaited improvements begin.
Of course, the timing has not gone unnoticed. Construction has commenced in an election year, something that inevitably raises eyebrows. Whether that is simply coincidence or a reflection of governments responding more quickly when the political spotlight is brightest is a question many in the community will ask.
Another question is whether these works would have been approved without the students who courageously spoke out and shared their experiences so publicly. While no one can say for certain, it is difficult to ignore the impact the viral video had in drawing attention to the condition of the school and keeping the issue alive in the public consciousness.
Whatever the answer, the important thing now is that future generations of Sunshine College, North Campus students will benefit from safe, modern learning environment which they deserve.
Perhaps there is also a lesson in this story. Young people are often told they cannot make a difference, yet a group of determined students proved that their voices matter. Their willingness to speak up placed a neglected issue firmly in the public eye and helped ensure it could no longer be ignored.
The buildings may soon be new, but the lasting legacy belongs to the students who refused to stay silent.
