Future rewards: Levi Thorne and Corey Dickerson urge Clontarf Foundation students to go the distance

There are eight names on the Alumni Wall of Fame at the headquarters of the Geraldton Clontarf Academy, part of the Clontarf Foundation. Inside another room, there is an honour board recognising outstanding students, the names Corey Dickerson and Levi Thorne being on both the wall and the board. The pair not only have the same birthday, with Dickerson a year older, but something much more important: their pleas to youngsters. “Stay at school,” they say in unison for the kids attending Clontarf. “Stay here and you will get opportunities. I got to travel to South Africa on a football tour and you get the opportunities to be the best you can,” Dickerson said. “I did a trade after school and these days I am an Aboriginal and Islander education officer at Geraldton Senior High School. “I don’t think I’d would be where I was if it wasn’t for staying at school.” Ditto Thorne, a youth engagement officer and health worker with the Geraldton Regional Aboriginal Medical Service. “I came to Geraldton from Shark Bay at the end of Year 10 and did my final two years at Clontarf,” Thorne said. “I stayed in school and took the opportunities, travelling interstate with football but more importantly, improving and developing as a person.” Tonight the pair will play in a past and present Clontarf students game of football at Wonthella Oval. “We aim to do at least one or two alumni functions a year,” Karl Pirrottina, the coach of the Railways Football Club and director of the Geraldton Clontarf Academy,” said. “Obviously footy is big in the lives of boys past and present ... but our organisation is about much more than that. “Having the game is a way of us keeping in contact with past boys to see how they are going. “They have jobs and young families and it’s good for our present students to see and hear how they are leading meaningful lives ... and inspire present-day students to stay in school.”