Recently the Year 9 students had the opportunity to visit the Skills West Expo at the Perth Convention Centre where they could collect information, ask questions and see displays about various career pathways across the Police, Defence, TAFE and University sectors. From there we travelled to Murdoch University where students were given a small glimpse at what it is like to be at university. The students were able to buy lunch and then enjoy eating it on the large grassed area and then were given a guided tour of the University by former students. Afterwards the students were broken into four groups where they were able to sample different types of University courses. They could choose from Forensic Science, Chemistry, Philosophy or Gaming.
From speaking with students after the day they thought it a very worthwhile experience because it got them to start thinking about their future and what grades they might need if they want to take a particular career path.
Below are the thoughts of three students on the day.
Mrs Scott 9/10 Year Manager
The Careers day was a great experience for me to gain a better idea of future careers and University courses. First we went to the Perth Convention Centre where we had the opportunity to look at many different career options and do some activities based on particular careers like cooking and game design. Afterwards we went to Murdoch University where we heard from some of the lecturers who worked there. They told us about the campus and life as a Uni student. We also did many activities like philosophy, game design and forensics. It was a very fulfilling experience and I enjoyed it.
Taniel Rampartab, Year 9C
Careers Expo by Ellen Byl and Xanthe Beacham
We started off the day by going to the Skills West Expo at the Perth Convention Centre, with lots of other schools. At the Expo we were able to have a look at the different stalls. Each stall was a possible career we could choose. There was the Police Force, Army, Navy, Beauty and loads more to look at. We really enjoyed it because you got to have a chat with people to have a better understanding of what the career we might be interested in is about. They had heaps of exhibits for us to touch, look at and play with to understand. The Expo was definitely helpful.
Murdoch University
When we arrived at Murdoch University we saw a lot of greenery. We had a nice, peaceful lunch out on the grassed area. Later we went on a tour of the university. There were four choices of activities to choose from. There were two science forensic activities and the other two were Philosophy and games. We chose the philosophy and games. We then went separate ways.
Ellen – I chose Philosophy and in that was filming. The Philosophy teacher was exciting and really drew her audience in. She showed us what Philosophy was and told us how people use it in day to day life. She had some older students who then split us into groups and talked to us separately. When the lady came to our group we had a long and meaningful conversation. I found it very interesting and would love to learn more.
Xanthe – I chose the Gaming activity. In this activity we got to have a go at using Unity, which is a program that creates a lot of the games we play. We had a Uni teacher show us how it works, what it does and to my surprise it was really easy. We found out that it takes from about 4 people to over 1000 people to make a game. I would definitely do it again.
