We've talked elsewhere about the strength of the student pool and how it can help redress the regional skills shortage, but there's much more to the project than just filling the gap.

For means of illustration - everyone's heard the adage "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" and it's often used to explain the phenomena of rural drift - young people moving from the country to the bright lights of the city.

Another adage bears more merit "The grass is greenest where you water it".

The Brolga project believes that, as it matures, it'll be able to work with students who come from urban communities and settle into regional centres, to encourage local, regional youth towards tertiary education, through peer-to-peer mentoring and using school-based activities as the medium.

In other words, working with students we place and who have an interest say in sports, cooking or language/cultural backgrounds, these students from urban areas will be leading by example that it is possible to step outside your comfort zone and move to new and seemingly daunting, far-off places. By developing relationships with local regional high-school students, the placed Brolga students will be able to say "Hey, I moved from the city to the country for a career, you can do the reverse, and by the way, if you're interested in the career I've chosen, I'll help you through uni."

Then, perhaps those regional high school students might return to either their former towns, or another regional centre...they'll be 'watering the grass'.