VCE VM News

By Elaine Rooney - Learning Leader – VCE/Vocational Major

Taking the Next Step: Year 12 VM Students Step Up

By Indiah, Harper, Charli and Alice (Year 12)

On Friday 9 October, our Year 12 VCE VM class took part in the very first Next Step Summit, a day of workshops focused on everything it takes to land the job you want.

Walking into LOLA Library (at the Provincial Hotel) that morning, we were excited, a bit nervous, and honestly not sure what to expect. By the end of the night, we had pitched ourselves to a professional panel, celebrated two years together, and left feeling ready for life after school.

The day started with our keynote speaker, Milly Stewart (Class of 2020). Milly spoke about why she chose VCE-VM and how she didn’t always have a clear plan for getting where she wanted to go, but she always had the ambition to open her own business. She was also honest about going through a lot in her personal life while she was at Loreto College, and how she kept her mind set on her goal. The message that stayed with many of us was simple: if you want to do something, just keep going. Hearing that from someone who sat in the same classrooms as us made it feel real and achievable.

Throughout the morning, we moved through workshops that built our skills for applying for jobs. Everything we learned in the morning came together in the afternoon for the 90-second pitch.

The pitch was the part most of us remember best, because almost none of us had ever done anything like it before. Once we were given our brief, we had just five minutes to write a pitch explaining why we would be perfect for the job we were 'applying for'. Then we each stood up and delivered it individually in front of the panel. Preparing was a challenge because there was so little time to plan and practise. We had to think on our feet, use everything we had learned that morning, and get comfortable with being uncomfortable, just like in a real interview. Standing in front of the panel, we felt nervous but also confident, because we knew what we were doing. The most common feedback we received was to make more eye contact and look up from our notes, so we could speak more clearly and be even more persuasive. We all left knowing how to think quickly and sell ourselves, and that is a skill we will use every time we apply for a job.

That evening, we came back together for the celebration dinner. It was a chance to dress up, enjoy a delicious meal, and spend time with our classmates in a more relaxed and personal way. The highlight of the night was the speeches from our teachers, who shared memorable moments about each of us and how much we have grown over our two years in VCE-VM. We also presented awards that our class had designed and chosen for each other. We felt so proud listening to our teachers, and it was the perfect way to celebrate the end of our time in the Applied Learning program.

The Next Step Summit showed us that we are more prepared for the future than we thought. To the Year 11s coming through: back yourself, say yes to the challenge, and just keep going.