Welcome to Oztry Youth Assist

Oztry Youth Assist seeks to address impediments to youth development.

Oztry Youth Assist is a Research Institute, approved by DEST, Department of Education, Science and Training. ACN: 097 735 996. It is an endorsed Deductible Gift Recipient ( DGR ) and Income Tax Exempt Charity ( ITEC ).

Oztry Youth Assist aims to equip Australian youth with vital life skills and character building educational programs which will enable our youth to realise their potential in life.

We may not be able to prepare the future for our youth but we can certainly better prepare our youth with skills to utilize their innate potential to become C reative, C ompassionate and C ontributing citizens, that is, 3 C citizens.

To achieve this objective Oztry Youth Assist is promoting the unique, multi-sensory Why Try? social and emotional life skills program and will seek funding to establish The Noble Oz Quest project.

Why Try? was introduced by Rotarian David Yap in 2004 to a pilot group of 18 high schools, involving over 500 Years 7 to 10 students. Rotary clubs in Wagga Wagga, NSW, and Rotary clubs in District 9800 in Melbourne supported this pilot project.

As at June 2007, more than 4,500 students in 80 schools, across Australia, have benefited from the WhyTry program.

Some schools like the program so much they are applying the Why Try program to an entire Year level of students, e.g. Balwyn High School, a state selective school, with all 275 Year 9 students for two consecutive years. The school has decided to do the same in 2008.

Student Welfare and Wellbeing Teachers, Youth Agency Counselors, Case Management Officers and School Psychologists have provided encouraging feedback, confirming that WhyTry works with a wide range of students. To further validate the efficacy of the Why Try program, Oztry will seek funding support for an evaluation project in 2007/08.

We warmly invite you to please help empower Australian youth with social and emotional life skills.