In Week 7, our Year 10 students engaged in a valuable work experience program. A diverse range of career paths were explored. Some of these were interior design, floristry, shark encounters, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, journalism, engineering, business consultancy, accounting, teaching, hairdressing, veterinarian medicine, and research.
This initiative allowed students to gain insights into various professions, helping them make informed decisions about their future study and career paths. The program not only provided exposure to the workforce but also allowed students to delve into careers aligned with their interests and aspirations, as well as giving them insight into some of their God-given gifts and abilities. Click through to see some of their feedback about the week!
Rachel
The career that I explored was being an animal carer. I was mostly based with either the sharks or the rays and stingrays. My main jobs were sweeping, surface scooping and cleaning cobwebs. Some of the runner jobs included patting, cuddling and feeding the sharks, rays and stingrays. I also helped train the zebra sharks. I had to clean the kitchen, help with food prep and wipe down glass. I also had to wash wetsuits.
My overall highlight was getting to name a baby Brown Banded Bamboo Shark! I named her 'Freckles' because she has a distinct brown dot on her forehead and a little to the left. She has a funny, cute, playful and cuddly personality. In the Nursery, there is a little round, shallow pool where 10-30 baby sharks live until they are old enough to get transferred, the eggs also sit in the pool until they hatch. Freckles would swim around the wall of the Nursery with her tummy against the wall and one of her Pectoral fins would be sticking out of the water. She loves to play hide and seek and she also loves to sit on your lap if you go to feed the baby sharks in the nursery.
Matthias
I explored being a jeweller during the work experience week. Some of the tasks I did included making rings and chains, soldering, melting, and cutting gold and silver. One thing I took away from work experience is the hard work ethic the people had and how I’m expected to perform when I pursue my working career.
Zoe
I explored the area of journalism but specifically news at the Illawarra Mercury. Some of the things I did included:
- going to court
- writing a few stories on the Mercury website
- a few social posts
- recording a few videos
- a voice of public survey
- going to a Palestine protest
- going to a train station to see the Transport Minister talk about it
- going to Towradgi Beach to chase a story with a photographer
I absolutely loved the experience and I now know I want to do it in my future. I love people, creating and writing and this job offered all three. It was a hands-on work experience and there was never a dull moment.
Helena
I explored two careers, interior design with Birdblack Design, and engineering and digital drafting with GHD. Throughout the week I performed various tasks including sorting wallpapers, and textiles, and designing a bathroom at Birdblack Design. At GHD, I was able to use a 3D scanner that is used to scan infrastructure and buildings by engineers, and learn how to use online modelling programs.
One highlight was selecting different tile, metal, and ceramic finishes for a bathroom. From these samples, I got to create a flat lay to convey the theme of my bathroom design! Something I took away from this experience was that asking questions is important during work experience. It helped me gain more knowledge about the careers, and the kind of work they do, which is going to be helpful in looking for future jobs.
Madison
I explored working as a primary school teacher at Unanderra Public school. Throughout the week I went into different classrooms and acted as a teacher's aide and assisted kids when they needed help as well as observing the way the teacher taught the class. I found it interesting that the kids and teachers considered me an adult! It was a good taste of what working life is like. I also enjoyed getting to know all the kids. They were super sweet and had funny stories. One thing I will take away from work experience is the responsibility and freedom that comes with becoming an adult and beginning to work. This week of work experience also confirmed that I want to do a job that revolves around working with and helping children.
Renee
I explored journalism. Mostly we went offsite to shoot interviews with the cameraman and journalist during the day. Then I learned by watching them edit the interviews and record the news in the afternoon. The highlight of my work experience was my last day. We first went to the mall to promote Black Friday sales, then went to a few places like the fish market and butcher to talk about people's Christmas food standards due to the ongoing inflation. Then we went to interview at a march for Palestine children, which was organised by people from my old school.
Lily
I explored interior design and event management. I created a flat lay of my dream bathroom and helped set up for formals. You have to do the harder boring jobs and persevere as there is always a lesson in the end!
