The Black Swan

Careers Information

EXTERNAL VET COURSES

A number of students have selected to study Vocational Education and Training at different registered training organisation and start either in Preliminary or HSC courses week three Term 1. Students travel to different campuses and have to be more independent. These courses are a wonderful opportunity to experience a wide range of practical and vocational subjects of the student’s interest. I wish them all the best in their chosen courses which include: Beauty, IT and Animal Studies, Salon assistant, Community Services, Business Services, Automotive and Electrotechnology.

READY TO GO

The Ready to Go program is replacing the well known JET program.  It will be just as popular an activity among the students who are selected to participate and will be organised through the presenter, Fiona Crane. Ready to Go is an intensive Careers program for students in Years 10 – 12 who are assisted in transitioning into further training, casual or full-time work. Skills and tips in how to present for interviews, producing excellent resumes and developing confidence to speak about themselves are all part of the work ready program. Lake Illawarra High School sees this program to be an important and necessary part of our school, that three days have again been dedicated to it this year. Introducing Year 8 students to other options to work will also be included in this program for 2019.

YEAR 12 DISCOVERY DAY AT UOW

A wonderful group of Year 12 students attended the University of Wollongong 2019 Discovery Day. Over 700 students across NSW were in attendance on the day that our students went to the university. This was only one day of five presentations by the university so thousands of students came to discover UOW.

 

Following a mass welcome in the Sports Hall with an excellent keynote speaker, students were then sent on their way with a personal timetable to find their way around the university to different lectures or tutorial sessions. This was an excellent day to help students make decisions on their future pathways and is only one step in the process. Special thanks to Mr Davis who also came in support of the students as Year 12 Year Adviser.

 

WORKING DURING THE HOLIDAYS  

While the school community was on holidays during January, dedicated students from Lake Illawarra High School participated in either Learning Labs for Gifted and Talented students participated in the IN2Uni Master Class Summer Session program or worked as a School Based Trainee.

 

The Learning Labs catered for students in Years 7 to 10 and allowed them to experience the life of a university student as well as provide different topics of study to build confidence in their academic interests. More opportunities to attend will come up during 2019.

 

On the other hand, the Master Class Summer Session program at the University of Wollongong was only for interested and selected students of Year 12 to participate. During January, Lauren Chalmers  participated in the Visual Arts department and had an excellent time. This experience had a variety of courses on offer and students who completed the course would receive a six-credit advantage to their future UOW course and an early entry interview.

 

Zac Cam and Jordyn Wood from Year 11 signed up as School Based Trainees late last year and during the holidays worked at ANZ Bank Kiama and Wollongong City Council Library respectively. Both are well on their way and enjoying work and the opportunity to study and work while doing the HSC. Chase from Year 12 also continued with his work as a trainee and is thinking of future options in Warehousing and Logistics beyond this year.

LAKE ILLAWARRA HIGH CAREERS WEBSITE and FACEBOOK PAGE

A useful website that is used by Yr 10 -12 students to access current information to assist in future directions, career planning, general information, job vacancies and newsletters. All caregivers are also welcome to access the site and find useful information.

The link is lakeillawarrahighcareers.com or you can simply type in Lake Illawarra High Careers in any search engine.

Lake Illawarra High School Careers facebook page is also an excellent resource of job vacancies, special events and current careers information. Like and follow the page to get any up to date information.

NRL Youth Summit 2019

Lake Illawarra High School has this program to provide young Indigenous Australians the work experience, mentorship and leadership opportunities. Brody Mitchell of Year 11 was successful in his application to participate in the NRL Youth Summit 2019. The Youth Summit involved spending a week in Melbourne meeting the NRL Indigenous All Stars, waking up at 5:30am every morning to do exercise, being involved in understanding his culture more and connecting with other students around Australia while starting to develop links into future options. It is a wonderful experience for Brody and hopefully another future Lake Illawarra High School student will be successful to participate next year.

 

Quote from Brody: 

The Youth Summit Camp was an experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything. It was a once in a lifetime journey of which I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I am so grateful for the facilitators and the sponsors who took the other students and myself to places such as:

  • Networking lunches with corporates from Coca-Cola, Harvey Norman and the CEO of the Dragons.
  • 2019 Indigenous All-Stars NRL game
  • The RMIT University for lessons on marketing, virtual reality and 3D printing
  • Cultural lessons about my indigenous heritage and learning war dances
  • Team work and leadership workshops/activities
  • Meet and greets with the Dragons, Indigenous All-Stars, Māori All-Stars and Preston Campbell

On the camp I got to meet an amazing bunch of likeminded students who will all be lifelong friends with each other. I am so glad that I got to attend the camp because it was an absolute blast. My highlight of the camp was when the Youth Summit students and myself held the massive flags on national TV for the All-Stars game.

 

I would like to give a massive thanks to Mrs Willingham. I would not have had the opportunity to improve myself if it was not for her knowledge on opportunities like this, and her passion to help kids grab these chances in life.