Six-Year-Old Dedicates Upcoming Birthday to Giving Back to Her Community

Melbourne, Australia, 2018-Jan-15 — /EPR Network/ — When 6 year old Annabelle recently learned of her family’s struggle to settle in Australia after fleeing the Vietnam War in 1982, she was inspired to donate her 7th birthday this year to raise money to help other families in a similar situation. Like many other Vietnamese refugees, the family of 5 came with just the clothes on their backs having escaped the horrors of the Vietnam War. Due to the kindness of strangers, they were able to not only survive, but also thrive.

Through kind donations and the generosity of others, the family was able to find a place to live, organise furniture, clothing, and be given the opportunity to create a new life for themselves. “My six-year-old daughter has decided to run a lemonade stand that includes a toy and book swap in order to celebrate her seventh birthday,” Thuy says. “All proceeds from the lemonade stand along with any excess toys and books will be donated to the West Welcome Wagon.” T

The charitable event will be held at Jensen Reserve – Cumberland Drive Maribyrnong, a local park with meaning to the family. “She has been planning the event for the past six months and this is something I’m looking to encourage in her as I think it’s very important for kids to develop the skills and confidence to have a dream and pursue it,” Thuy, an entrepreneur, says. As the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, Thuy watched as her parents gritted through settling in a new country where they did not speak the language or have any skills to pave a new life for themselves and for their four children. This gave her the drive to give all students the opportunity to obtain a high-quality education through her company Spectrum Tuition, even helping many students earn scholarships or places at select entry schools when a place would have previously been out of reach.

Now, nearly 17 years later with multiple campuses around the Melbourne area and an impending franchising model in 2018, Thuy believes students are facing a brand new challenge. “When my daughter graduates high school, the world will be a completely different place. With the rise of technology, many jobs and industries will not have been invented yet and my aim is to prepare my daughter and other children for this future workforce,” Thuy says. “This is why I created Yellow Brick Code, a kids’ school holiday coding camp to teach the fundamentals of coding to give kids the opportunity to build their own products, games and learn the skills to prepare them for the future.”

“Students will develop their school-based skills during the school term at Spectrum Tuition, while we will spend the school holidays building on our entrepreneurial skills,” Thuy says. “In the future, we aim to teach students to market their programs and apps that they build, learn graphics design, digital marketing, websites, and e-commerce stores.”

In the meantime, she will support her daughter’s efforts to help other kids and their families who need a fresh start.

For additional information about this special event or Yellow Brick Code, please visit www.yellowbrickcode.com.au. The lemonade stand, book and toy swap set-up will occur on Sunday 7th January 2018 from 12:00pm-3:00pm. To donate to the West Welcome Wagon, please visit www.westwelcomewagon.com.au info@yellowbrickcode.com.au www.yellowbrickcode.com.au Yellow Brick Code School Holiday Program

BACKGROUND Established in 2001, Spectrum Tuition helps students to become better learners. With our guidance, students increase their confidence, overcome test anxieties, and develop more efficient learning skills. We designed Yellow Brick Code, an innovative school holiday program, to introduce kids to the world of computer science and to prepare them for the educational challenges ahead. This program will run during the September school holidays.

VISION Everyone loves a good story and we have centred the Yellow Brick Code program around a fun and engaging ‘Choose your own adventure’ style storybook with relatable characters to teach students how to code. Our program links literacy with relevant computer science concepts with simple ‘drag and drop’ coding skills making it a cohesive and memorable learning experience. Even kids as young as 5 can succeed in our program.

PURPOSE Yellow Brick Code was developed to provide a substantial alternative to traditional school holiday programs, giving students the opportunity to create their own video game in just 3 days. Computer skills are essential for the future job market and Yellow Brick Code will help prepare kids for success.

GOALS Our goal is to teach 20,000 kids to code by 2020, while developing their literacy and numeracy skills. We aim to do this by providing a valuable and unique school holiday program that will help kids develop important skills to help them pave their own way to build their own products or start their own companies if they want to.

CONTACT Thuy Pham Founder, Spectrum Tuition Phone : 0422 874 357 Email: info@yellowbrickcode.com.au For more information about our company, visit www.yellowbrickcode.com.au or www.spectrumtuition.com