Careers Corner

TERM IN REVIEW 

Throughout term 2, students have had the opportunity to engage with a broad range of careers opportunities across a range of industries. The year 12 cohort attended the Careers Expo in Tamworth and the UNE open day here in Armidale. Both of these events saw a huge level of engagement from our seniors with industry specialists and education providers.

In week 6, Josh and Miss Phillips journeyed with a group of Agriculture students to the Farrer Agriculture Careers Expo and spent the day talking with dozens of exhibitors from all over the region.

This University of Sydney visited O’Connor to speak with students in year 11 and 12 about life as a USYD student. The presenters were current USYD students who had some worthwhile advice about enrollment, courses and student accommodation. 

MORE RECENTLY 

The Girls Can Too! Program wrapped up in week 7 with a busy day of industry tours. Seven female O’Connor students engaged with this program throughout term 2 where they gained insights and experience in typically male dominated trades. 

In week 8, Raymond from the Sydney Flight School came to speak with students interested in the aviation industry or becoming a pilot. He offered some great insights into recommended subject selection for Pilot training, the structure of the training program and career pathways for qualified Pilots. Sydney Flight School have campuses in both Sydney and Tamworth and are running open days in November. To keep up to date with these opportunities, please access their webpage via this link. 

Students with a STEM interest were invited to watch the Beyond Green: The Cutting Edge of Sustainable Engineering webinar featuring all female speakers including:

Vivian Tam: a world-leading researcher, Distinguished Professor Vivian has made her mark by combatting the climate crisis. She has achieved international recognition for inventing CO2 Concrete and contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goals. Winner of an ARC Future Fellowship, Vivian has featured in 100 Climate Conversations and ranks among the world’s top 2% most influential scientists.

Laila Halim: a passionate about sustainable engineering and creating a healthier planet for future generations. As a first-year PhD candidate at Monash University, she is putting her engineering expertise to work on the plastic waste problem.  When advanced recycling techniques are applied to plastic waste, a complex mixture of smaller chemical components is obtained. Laila’s PhD project investigates how to filter out the useful components using polymeric membrane materials, in place of traditional high energy means of separation.

Fiona Allen: Strategy and Development Environment Lead, Clean Co Queensland Limited Fiona is a certified environmental practitioner with over 25 years’ experience working both nationally and internationally on high-risk projects in risk management, governance, compliance, audit and assurance, approvals, management systems, emergency response, and sustainability. She has held government, consulting, and in-house roles  in power generation, mining and the resource sector, petroleum exploration and production, aviation, defence, and as a regulator.

In week 10, students with an electrical interest are attending a tour of the Armidale Essential Energy depot. This experience will provide students with insights into the electrical trade and the opportunity to ask industry professionals questions they may have about working in the field.

COMING UP IN TERM 3

July and August are busy months for University open days. Please see the list of dates in the image below. Live links and regular updates on open days, information sessions and all things Careers can be accessed on the year 12 Google Classroom.

The AgTech program is running across the 2nd half of term 3 which will see students attend 4 days at TAFE and one day at the UNE Smart Farm learning about Agtech as a vital industry that supports farms to become more sustainable, efficient, and climate-friendly through the application of data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and much more. Topics included in this program include; drone mapping and operation, Internet of Things (automation, sensors, collecting data), learning to build, code and test various sensors, utilise a weather station kit, design a model SMART farm using a CISCO packet tracer, and learning about artificial intelligence in agriculture to predict weather patterns. At the UNE SMART Farm students will see technology being used for better monitoring and decision making, such as automated water monitoring, animal and pasture data collection, and use and they will build a virtual farm with Ag360.

Mrs Rachel Galvin

Leader - Student Pathways, Careers, SBAT & TVET