Latoya Young sits quietly on a picnic table in remote desert bushland a few kilometres outside her community of Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa).
Her elbow sticks out at just the right angle as she uses a mortar and pestle to powerfully grind the aherre-intenhe.
The year 10 student is learning how to make the bush medicine as part of a program aiming to increase school attendance and reduce antisocial behaviour in the community about 85 kilometres south-east of Alice Springs.
"When you come out bush, it's just calm," she said.
"We do everything out bush, but at school, it's just work hard, learn, because we get interrupted all the time by the boys, sometimes we bring some [homework] out bush too."
A different type of learning
Latoya is one of about 20 students who take part in an alternative engagement program run by the Atyenhenge Atherre Aboriginal Corporation (AAAC).
The program rewards students who go to and behave well at school, by letting them participate in learning activities outside of the classroom.
The program has been running for more than a year and so far students have been able to try a variety of activities including horse riding, skateboarding, barbering, digital literacy training, and exercise programs.
For another program activity, a group of girls painted a mural of the striking red rocky range behind their town on the dull wall of a council toilet block.
Ltyentye Apurte is known for its art and many of the girls have aunties, mums, or grandmothers who are artists in the community, so the mural is not just a chance for the girls to practise their painting skills, but it's also a way for them to connect with their culture, family, and environment.
They were incredibly shy, but eventually the girls found the courage to explain they "love" the program, it "feels fun" and helps "clear our mind out".
When asked what they would be doing if they weren't in the program, their answers illustrated the boredom and idleness that leaders in the community have said leads to the wrong behaviour.
"Walking around the community bored", "doing nothing", "chilling at home" and "playing footy", some of the group responded.
Keeping kids 'out of trouble'
Program coordinator David Jagger said young people disengaged from learning had been involved in graffiti, rock throwing, property damage, and starting fires in the community, but the program was helping to change that.
"They go to class in the morning, they come here for lunch and then they engage in different experiences to keep them engaged with learning in the broader sense," he said.
"If young people are not engaged and being respected in the process, then they can get up to some serious mischief.
"They can engage in antisocial behaviour and this program helps engage them in constructive, creative, fun ways that are still learning to keep them out of trouble."
Ltyentye Apurte Catholic School acting principal Robert Dreise, who is known as Mr D in the community for cultural reasons, said school attendance could fluctuate for various reasons such as families moving between communities, students attending funerals or sorry business, or for other cultural reasons.
But he said the program was increasing and maintaining school attendance.
"I know it works because the students keep coming to me at 12 o'clock, or even 11:30, to say, 'Is the alternative engagement program on?' ... the ones involved are here every day, so it's almost like well over 90 per cent attendance," he said.
"It also benefits those who stay [in the classroom] to have an opportunity to get their work done, the class sizes become smaller and the teacher can have more individual care for the students who are left behind."
Finding the right path
Mr Jagger said the program was especially important in the wake of crime in Alice Springs and a three-week youth curfew earlier this year.
He believed the issues could partly be attributed to young people dropping out of school.
"They're getting up to no good and one thing leads to another, it escalates," he said.
"Here, there is that potential, there has been that sort of antisocial behaviour, but anecdotally, through the police and the school, it's diminished since this program."
Arrernte woman and classroom assistant Charlotte Flowers grew up in Ltyentye Apurte and said she was concerned young people from Alice Springs were leading those in Santa Teresa astray.
"If they've been living in Alice Springs because there's a lot of crime there [they think] 'Oh, we'll go to community and teach those kids what it's like to do graffiti and breaking in and stuff'," she said.
But she said the alternative engagement program was making a difference by giving young people something better to do.
"The AAAC are told … they get help straight away and then they talk to the kid, like what he or she is doing. Do they go to school, can they help them? It's good."
Looking towards a positive future
Arrernte man Jaydon John grew up in Ltyentye Apurte and has spent time mentoring "young fellas" in the program through a barbering course.
"I love coming here to teach the young kids, the next generation," he said.
"It's important because there's been stealing going around and young kids have been getting mad at school.
"What we do is like teaching them, showing them how to just be good."
Mr John said the activities were fun, so it helped the young people build confidence.
"The more fun you get, the more confident you are," he said.
Student Temisha Young said the alternative engagement program kept students coming to school because the activities were "more exciting" than home.
"[The program will] help you get a good education for college and then from college you can find a job," she said.
Those behind the program hope others can use it as a model to combat similar issues in their own communities.