On the 13 June, all Year 10 students participated in the annual ‘Speed Careering’ event as part of their Middle Sub School Proactive Programs week. This event involved external professionals from 21 diverse fields of employment, including engineering, aviation, defence, healthcare, business, policing, arts, publishing, logistics, trades, and technology, volunteering their time to visit the College and engage in rapid-fire presentations about their careers. Many of these professionals were SASC Alumni who shared valuable insights into their respective fields, discussing how they navigated their careers, along with the challenges, rewards, and day-to-day responsibilities of their roles.

The ‘speedy’ rotations allowed small groups of students to interact closely with each presenter in short, intensive sessions and receive personalised responses to their burning questions. It provided our students with a brief but crucial insight into at least 10 different career options prior to their important subject selection and pathway decisions in term 3.

Overall, the event was a resounding success. The students were highly respectful and deeply engaged with the presentations, and guest presenters praised the quality of their questions and their overall enthusiasm. Some students even began networking and arranging casual work opportunities for themselves over the summer break, which was wonderful to see. Our peer mentors played a pivotal role in troubleshooting and ensuring the smooth coordination of the entire event, showcasing their impressive leadership and teamwork skills.

A heartfelt thank you to the volunteer presenters, staff, peer mentors, and the entire Year 10 student body for contributing to such a memorable and successful event.

‘Speed Careering’ is one of many enriching events on the school calendar that enhances the education of our students through the involvement of our valued alumni, business, and community partners. Once again, thank you to everyone involved, and we eagerly anticipate making next year’s event even bigger and better.

Our students then engaged in three different immunological workshops. In the first workshop, student used bioinformatics to investigate the risk of different animal species in contracting coronavirus. After that, the students explored different infectious and non-communicable diseases in mouse models using microscopy. Finally, students performed a lab technique called an ‘ELISA’ to determine the mystery tuberculosis carrier at a hospital. Throughout these sessions, students were able to talk to the facilitating scientists and PhD students and learn about their journeys and careers.

Below a student’s reflection of the excursion:

‘I thoroughly enjoyed the guest speaker’s presentation, particularly the video which he produced on the innate and adaptive immune system – very helpful for students who were being exposed to the Unit 4 Biology content for the first time. I also enjoyed the bioinformatics session and being able to ask immunologists about what they enjoy about their profession, what they do and the challenges they face. Overall, this excursion was really eye-opening for me and I would recommend it to any Biology students who are interested in immunology.’   – Jessica Luong (12C)

 

Mr Dane Stammers – Commerce Coordinator | Community & Business Partnerships Coordinator