ABCN Partnership Program 2

Full Steam Ahead Newsletter

During February and March, some of our Year 8 students participated in Full STEAM Ahead, a digital coding program facilitated by ABCN and the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.  The students were able to code and create flashing lights, sounds, make fun fair style buttons work, and create an infrared sensor loop.

Students were also able to engage with mentors from both the Commonwealth Bank and the Powerhouse Museum about careers available within the STEM area, as well as how the mentors entered into their own career pathway. 

I was very proud of the way in which the students engaged with the material and persevered when faced with errors, looking to find solutions and working together to see each other succeed. 

Focus: Leadership Skills for Young Women

Billie Jean King, Oprah Winfrey, Grace Tame, grandmothers, aunts, Jacinda Ardern; these were females identified by some of our Year 10 students as they participated in Focus, a program designed to identify and develop leadership skills in young women. The students identified the characteristics of strength, resilience, passion, determination, honesty, bravery, and perseverance as traits to embody.  The program, facilitated by the Australian Business Council Network (ABCN), also saw the students working with mentors from Microsoft, allowing the students to ask fellow women about their careers, as well as how they dealt with both success and failures.  This also allowed the Scoresby Secondary College students to develop their reflective habits and see how women in business applied some of the leadership behaviours that they were developing. 

We are very grateful for ABCN and in particular Gill Lambie for facilitating our sessions and look forward to our young women becoming the strong leaders as they move into their final years at Scoresby and into their chosen careers.  I was very proud of the constructive questions and conversations that were held and the manner in which the students conducted themselves, willingly stepping out of their comfort zone. 

Ellen Sawyer

ABCN Programs Coordinator