Girl Power Engineering

Recently, I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of the Melbourne University Girl Power in Engineering and IT program. This was an amazing opportunity to be a part of, and I would highly recommend this program to any female or non-binary students coming into year 9 and interested in STEM. Even if you’re just looking to expand your horizons and see what other career options are out there, this program really opened my eyes to a whole new range of possible careers and what Uni life is like.  

We experienced first-hand the dining hall, where we chose what we ate each morning and night and gathered with our friends from other groups to catch up and chat. We also had our own on-site dorm room with a double bed and our own ensuite. All the rooms varied in size, and some had couches or mini fridges, but it all depended on who was normally living in the room.  We got a tour around the huge Melbourne Uni, Parkville campus where we saw extensive amounts of incredible architecture and saw all the sports fields and training centres along with many of the different subject buildings. We completed many workshops, but my favourite was where we got to design, build and test our own gliders and compete against all the other pairs. Me and my friend won with our elliptical designed glider. 

It’s a 3 year program that takes you through the different stages and times of high school and sets you up for a course in STEM. Starting in year 9, you stay on campus and participate in many different workshops and get a small taster for different types of engineering and IT pathways. You complete and present a group project with people you’ve never met before which pushes you out of your comfort zone and the whole way, you’re surrounded by like-minded people similarly interested in engineering and IT. There’s also a panel evening where you get an opportunity to listen and ask questions to women in the field of STEM who talk about what it’s like and how they got where they are. The whole year 9 program gives you a preview to university life and engineering and IT courses. In the second stage of the program, Year 10 students can complete the Faculty of Science work experience program which allows you to choose from a range of different subjects including engineering, IT and more. The final stage of the program takes place in years 11 and12 where the program offers mentoring opportunities between participants and University of Melbourne STEM students to help them through their VCE studies. 

This program is definitely worthwhile for any female or non-binary students interested in any area of STEM and is willing to be pushed out of there comfort zone to explore new opportunities. 

-Skye F, Yr 9