The Port Adelaide Football Club has kicked off the 2015 Aboriginal Power Cup with its biggest opening launch at Alberton on Monday.

Guests were greeted with a traditional Aboriginal welcome at the entrance doors of the club’s indoor training arena, and listened to the impact the program has had on many teenagers from metropolitan and remote communities over the past seven years.

The eighth Aboriginal Power Cup will be held in Terms 2 and 3 this year.

Stars from the previous 2014 carnival were asked to come back and participate in the opening of this year’s competition.

The Aboriginal Power Cup aims to encourage Aboriginal students in years 10, 11 and 12 to stay in school and complete their secondary studies.

Students who get involved in the program will again have the opportunity to play in the grand final on the main stage at the Adelaide Oval before the clash between Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs on June 6.

Port Adelaide, through its community development arm Power Community Ltd, first started the program back in 2008 with a view to having a positive impact on the then 22 per cent school completion rate among Aboriginal students.

As a result, students’ participation in the program-ending football carnival is only possible if they continue to meet attendance and academic benchmarks.

Each year, students are brought together to work on developing team goals and responsibilities while also attending workshops on culture and identity.

Teams also get the opportunity to design their own guernsey and develop their own personal war cry as part of the program.

For the first time in 2015, Aboriginal participants will be required to invite a non-Aboriginal teen to join them for the new ‘buddy-up’ program.

This will help enforce this year’s theme of ‘being the change you want to see.’

The program gives them the chance to meet and talk about their aspirations with other like-minded Aboriginal teenagers and learn about possible career pathways.

Former Port Adelaide star and ambassador of the program, Gavin Wanganeen, says he’d have loved the opportunity to have played in the Aboriginal Power Cup and reap the benefit of the program’s educational component.

“It [the Aboriginal Power Cup] would have been an unbelievable experience,” Wanganeen said at the launch.

“Just to be around the environment that the Aboriginal Power Cup provides would have been a huge benefit.”

Chad Wingard, also an ambassador of the program, says not every school has equal opportunities for Aboriginal students, which makes the program so important.

“This is a great way for the kids to have pathways through school into [higher] education or even a job,” Wingard said.

“It’s a great thing to do and an opportunity that I think every Aboriginal kid should get.”

From its humble beginnings in 2008, participation in the program has more than tripled over the eight years it has run.

125 students from six schools were the first to participate in the program.

That number leapt to 392 from 32 schools in 2014 with even more expected to participate this year.

More opportunites in higher education and the general job market have opened up over the years for Aboriginal students as a result.

Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Ian Hunter says the South Australian government believes in the positive changes the program is creating for young Aboriginal people.

“It empowers students to take charge of aspects of their own lives and their own futures, whether it’s in education or training or employment later on or in leadership positions in their own community,” Mr Hunter said.

He says the government commends the club on the opportunity that it’s providing to strengthen communities ties.

“It’s important people start to feel…they have some control over decisions that impact them. They can go on and influence their own communities.”

Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas says the connection to the community is a core part of the club’s mantra, and the Aboriginal Power Cup is a centerpiece of its suite of community programs.

“It is a commitment as a football club that we will continue to make. It defines us and we love it,” Mr Thomas said.

“At Port Adelaide, we believe in whole of community solutions. We love working with like-minded partners who do things simply because it’s the right thing to do.”

The Year 12 pass rate for participating students was 90 per cent in 2014 and Mr Thomas says he wants to raise that number even higher this year.

“We are very proud of the progress that we’re making but it’s not over.”

This year, the club is aiming to generate at least 40 jobs for students that come out of the Aboriginal Power Cup system.