Image: Joanna Winslade, structural engineer, presenting to Year 12 students at Darwin High School.
Students from a number of Darwin high schools have been inspired to pursue a career in engineering. Charles Darwin University’s (CDU) School of Engineering and IT, and Engineers Australia’s Women in Engineering (WiE) Northern Branch have partnered up to meet with senior students and discuss the possibilities available with an engineering qualification.
Almost 300 students received information on the engineering courses available at CDU, including how to apply, the careers available, and what subjects to study now from a School of Engineering representative. Former students from the schools visited, that are currently studying engineering at CDU, joined the conversation and discussed their experiences at university so far and why they decided to study this field.
Practicing local engineers joined the visits to demonstrate what an engineering professional does day-to-day, shared some projects they have worked on, and provided some real life examples of where this profession can take you.
John Dalinkiewicz, a rotating equipment engineer who grew up in Melbourne and studied a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering at RMIT University, spoke to a group of Year 10 students at O’Loughlin Catholic College.
“I am keen to promote engineering to young people who might not necessarily understand what engineering is and where it can take you. I was very impressed with the engagement of the class, I really enjoyed it and look forward to getting involved again," said Mr Dalinkiewicz.
A total of twelve practicing engineers from a variety of disciplines / industries volunteered their time to attend the visits. Thank you to the following organisations who were involved:
- BMD Constructions
- Cell Engineering
- GHD
- INPEX
- Northern Territory Department of Infrastructure
- Power and Water
- Sitzler
- Territory Generation
- Wallbridge and Gilbert RFP
One of Engineers Australia’s strategic priorities is to focus on tomorrow’s engineers; by promoting the study of engineering to the next generation.
WiE National Committee’s Northern Representative and structural engineer with Wallbridge and Gilbert RFP, Joanna Winslade, was involved in finding volunteers from the engineering profession to talk to the students.
“The school visits were an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the varied type of work that an engineer can do and presented students with a career option that they may not have considered. It was a similar such talk that resulted in myself studying engineering at CDU. There were a number of students at the presentations that indicated that they were now considering engineering as a career, along with a number of others that were further set in their goals to do so,” said Miss Winslade.