Year 9 ‘Try a Careers’ Expo

A busy start to the school day saw 140 Year 9 students loaded on buses and excitedly taken out to SWTAFEs Sherwood Park campus to attend the ‘Try a Career’ Expo.

One of the biggest challenges for a young person is how and where to commence the career journey. The ‘Try a Career’ Expo was purely about giving young people the chance to try ‘hands on activities’ and talk to people about what is involved in a range of different careers. This was also the first introduction to Year 9s about the VETis (Vocational Education and Training in Schools) program.

Students were welcomed on site by the TAFE in Schools Coordinator Susan Pettigrew who took us through how the sessions would run and where to go. She then rang the bell signalling that start to the morning and off we went, in all directions, like ants disturbed at a picnic.

Over a ninety-minute period, students experienced three different ‘hands on activities’ from preferences they had made in the weeks leading up to the excursion. Industries and careers represented on the day were:

Building
Community Services
Electrical
Engineering
Furniture and Cabinet Making
Hairdressing
Health
Hospitality
Make-up
Media
Plumbing
Early Childhood
Arts
Agriculture / Conservation & Land
Sport and Recreation
Business Administration

As the final bell rang marking the end of the Expo, the students boarded the buses back to school armed with things they had made, eaten or learned. It was a great success and most importantly, the first of many introductions to the vocational opportunities available to students at Warrnambool College.

Kerry Cheeseman

Pathways Coordinator