Future STEM Leaders Program

STEM is an approach to learning and development that integrates the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Through STEM, students develop key skills of problem-solving and creativity which allows us to accelerate into our future careers. In some places today, women are still unrepresented in the STEM fields. Across STEM-qualified industries and occupations in Australia (workplaces where 50% of employers hold a recognised stem qualification), women comprise 28% of the STEM workforce. Despite a 2% increase of women in STEM occupations between 2009 and 2020, women's representation in STEM Careers remains significantly low.

After years of delay due to the global coronavirus pandemic, RMIT University was able to finally conduct its annual ‘RMIT Future Leaders in STEM Program’. Such a program has been constituted to enhance young females’ knowledge and leadership skills in terms of STEM where they can later grow to become bright future STEM leaders - initiating the improvement of the representation of females in such fields.

As a participating school, 10 students from Years 9 and 10 from Marian College, were selected to be involved in this program. On the first day, we were invited to the RMIT University City Campus, where we were be able to create connections with students from other secondary schools in Melbourne who are also aspiring to pursue a STEM future pathway. As well as RMIT’s expert faculty and student STEM ambassadors - there were experts in biomedicine, IT, aviation, and engineering. Not only did we make connections on this day, but we were given a close insight into university life, took part in a coding and surveying technologies workshops, and we were also able to listen to a guest speaker.

The second session of the Future STEM Leaders Program, was conducted via a Zoom meeting with RMIT’s faculty and ambassadors. During this session were able to catch-up and share our own STEM experiences and aspirations with the staff from the program. On the last session, the Years 9 and 10 STEM Future Leaders ran the workshop that we were preparing with the RMIT faculty staff, with a Year 7 Science class. The RMIT staff and ambassadors came over to assist us also during our workshop, where we introduced coding and software to the younger year levels through the use of ‘micro-bits’, pocket-sized computers.

By participating in such a significant program, we, the STEM leaders have developed an enhanced understanding of STEM itself. I now know I would like to pursue an occupation in the STEM field in the future, and this program has assisted me in making this decision. We have made meaningful connections with other students who have the same interests as we do. We have built a deeper understanding of university life as a whole, and our love for STEM has been enhanced greatly.

Tayla

Year 10

The Future STEM Leaders program is an opportunity for students from Years 9 and 10 who are aspiring to be future school leaders and are enthusiastic about STEM, to participate in this amazing opportunity offered by RMIT. This engaging STEM workshop is aimed to inspire and support the empowerment and confidence of aspiring student leaders. I decided to participate in this workshop so I could gain experience as a leader, explore STEM pathways and visit the RMIT City Campus. This experience was engaging, informative and inspiring. The program ended with the 10 students who were selected to run a STEM workshop for Year 7 students, using the knowledge and skills that we had previously been taught whilst at RMIT. This allowed us to develop and improve our leadership skills as we assisted the year 7’s to code using the Microbits. This workshop will be running again next year, and I highly recommend it for students who want to gain experience as a leader, learn about STEM pathways and to visit the RMIT City Campus.

Ruth

Year 10

Ten students from Years 9 and 10 had the opportunity of being trained by the STEM ambassadors of RMIT to become future leaders in this industry. On September the 7th, the ambassadors visited our school to run a STEM workshop with our Year 7 students. Our role in this session was to teach a selected Year 7 Science class about micro:bits and its uses, introduce a reaction game, which they had to program on their laptops and construct with material to make a product. The student leaders were able to assist the ambassadors with the project and in return, enhance our understanding of the technology.

Jacelyn Vong

Year 9

Suzanne Matejin

Learning Leader