ACS QLD branch and ICT GISP support Year 12 STEM Careers Camp

School may not have gone back yet, but the National Youth Science Foundation (NYSF) ‘Speed Meet’ event this week saw 70 year 12 students gather anyway at UQ St Lucia in a program that gives them direct access to STEM industry professionals across Australia. 

Each January, the NYSF, a not-for-profit charity that encourages young people in their passion for STEM, brings approximately 500 Year 12 students from across the country together to participate in NYSF Year 12 Programs. Represented at the Queensland event were six of the schools in the ICT Gateway to Industry Pathways program funded by the Queensland Department of Trade, Employment and Training that ACS manages.

A key part of this NYSF event is exposing the students to the range of career paths available to them via the chance to connect with professionals and researchers in an informal "Speed-Meet" format.

Across the two rounds of the event, Industry Professionals each talked to nine small groups of students about their career path, and answered questions about what to study, fields of research, their current role and how they got to where you are today. The focus was on informal discussions where students felt comfortable asking questions before they then rotated onto the next table.  

ACS was represented by the expertise of Queensland Branch Manager Holly Bretherton, who gave students insight into the top jobs available in the IT Industry, as well as what ACS does. ACS’s ICT GISP project manager Jonathan Nalder took groups through the ‘My Digital Career Survey’ and ACS Foundation ‘STEM Career Wheel’ which give students a personalised report and interactive resource to pinpoint where they fit into the big picture of available careers. Also sharing with students was Dularika Wickramasinghe, a business analyst and member of the ACS QLD Emerging Professionals Committee, whose conclusion about the event was that “It was so rewarding to see the students interest and excitement about the many paths they can take in the field”.

Thanks to the NYSF for such a brilliant event – we can’t imagine a better way for new year 12’s to kick off their final year.