Girls In STEM

On the 29th and 30th of August, Emily Johnston, Lily Peacock, Tamyka Beaton and I all travelled to the Ballarat Tech School (BTS) for the 3rd time this year, to participate in the Girls In STEM program. This time, we worked with Bartletts to create a product with the offcuts of PVC used for their instant shutters. Once we got settled in, we were separated into our groups and we were assigned our positions, which included materials, manufacturing, design, and corporate. We sat down to listen to the CEO of Barltetts, David O'Brien, who came to BTS to tell us a little more about how Bartletts came to be. He showed us a video about the founder of the company, Cliff Bartlett, and the years of work he put in to make sure the company was still a celebrated success even after he retired. 

Shortly after, the staff and the girls at BTS all boarded buses for the drive to Bartlett's factories. The staff greeted us with wide smiles and we ventured off to learn about our different roles. My job was design, so the group of designers and I were led to an office room to be taught how to use the advanced technology to create and design our products. We learnt about 3D models, nets and how to cater to the customers’ needs and wants, while also making a noteworthy product with multiple uses and minimal waste. 

We got back to BTS ready to plan our products. The BTS provided us with the materials and gadgets we needed to create our inventions. We planned, brainstormed and glued our ideas together until the time was up and we needed to head home and wait for the next morning. 

The next day, we had an expert in marketing come to show us how to pitch our ideas to an audience, how to put on a brave face and how to win the competition. We jotted down ideas until the time came to complete our work. We only had an hour or so to finish the last pieces of our inventions, before the judges from Bartletts and Fed Uni came to view our presentations, with the time ticking away relentlessly. We set up our stands, wrote on our boards and stood in our positions until the judges started filing in. We repeated our pitches 13 times to different judges until the time was up, and thanked the judges for their time. 

We would like to thank Ballarat Tech School for organising Girls in STEM and for the amazing opportunities  it has provided. 

-Jolie Valsamis-Saner, Year 9