In the last 12 months year ten students from Parkes High School have been active in the community doing their work experience. The jobs ranging from physio to teaching to diagnostic imaging.
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At Parkes High School, the year 10 students this year have been given the opportunity to complete up to three sessions of work experience.
Many completed two out of the three sessions, with each session a week long. This allows them to have the best chance to find the most well-suited career path for them to pursue either after high school or at the end of this year.
Charlie Summerhayes
Road Maritime Services
Charlie Summerhayes is a Parkes High student who went to Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) on his first session of work experience.
While there, Charlie mainly focused on the engineering work, learning how to use different design software and being taught how the RMS design our roads and structures.
When asked what drew him to this industry he replied: "I've always admired the work that engineers do."
Charlie also explained that this is a career path that he is interested in and would like to go complete a university degree in engineering once he has completed high school.
Overall, he said that he enjoyed his experience there with the most enjoyable part being that "I got to work with all the engineers that helped me understand what they do and what it means to be an engineer."
Breeanna Lowe
Parkes Diagnostic Imaging
Breeanna Lowe is a Parkes High student that went to Parkes Diagnostic Imaging and she is on her second session of work experience.
During her time there Bree focused on ultrasounds and scans, observing and learning how the two work. She was drawn to this field of work due to her compassion and her interest in ultrasounds and scans.
Bree explained that this is the career path for her as the time she spent at Parkes Diagnostic Imaging piqued her interest saying that she could see herself going to get a university degree after finishing high school.
She loved her time there on work experience, most enjoying "learning more about the positions such as what a radiographer, radiologist and sonographer do."
Heidi McPherson
Parkes Champion Post
Heidi McPherson is a Parkes High student that went to the Parkes Champion Post for her third session of work experience.
During her time there her main tasks included taking photos, writing and editing, learning how to interview someone, how to layout the paper and how to upload it to the website.
"I was attracted to this industry because it included two things that I love writing and photography so I thought that it would be cool to check out a career that includes both," said Heidi.
When asked whether she could see herself doing this as a career she explained that it is something she would consider but she also really enjoyed her time at Parkes East Public School and said that she still has a while before anything has to be set in stone.
Overall, she enjoyed her time at the Parkes Champion Post saying "my favourite part was going through the old papers from the 70's and 80's as well as writing this article."
Olivia Thompson
Parkes Public School
Olivia Thompson is a Parkes High student that went to Parkes Public School for her second session.
While there, Olivia assisted the teacher that she was assigned to for the week. She learnt teaching strategies such as how to effectively get students attention, how to control a class and how to think on the spot for alternatives if something is not working for the students.
When asked what attracted her to teaching, she replied "My love for communicating with others, sharing knowledge to other people, co-operating in fun activities with kids in order to support their education."
Olivia explained that she would definitely consider this as a career path as she enjoyed her time there but found that she is more passionate about a different area of work.
When asked what was the highlight of her time at Parkes Public she said "I enjoyed hanging out and getting to know the staff and students while furthering my knowledge of the teaching industry."
Archie Rix
Cheney's Electrical Contracting
Archie Rix is a Parkes High student that went to Cheney's Electrical Contracting for his second session of work experience.
While there, he explained that he was learning skills of an electrician and how they complete tasks using certain tips and tricks that are used in the trade. He was drawn to observe the work life of an electrician as "I like challenging myself within the trade industry and I'm interested in maths relating to electrical work."
He explained that although he thoroughly enjoyed his time there could not see himself being an electrician as he has had other trade related experiences and liked aspects of them better. Archie said his favourite part about his time at Cheney's Electrical Contracting was "learning how they did things and the lots of ways I didn't think they could do and learning these things."
Blast from the past
Work experience has been going on for many years, but it looks a little different these days!
During my time at the Parkes Champion Post, I had the opportunity to look through some old papers. During my dig I found an article from 1984 where ex-Parkes High student, Patricia Donnelly wrote about what work experience looked like at this time.
She speaks about how in 1983 they changed it so that they now had two weeks at the one place for work experience - unlike now where students have one week at each place of their choice.
In 1984, Parkes High had around 170 students travelling to places such as Bogan Gate, Orange, Dubbo and Sydney to complete their session. Unfortunately it has been hard this year to give the students every opportunity, such as being able to do work experience in Sydney or at the hospital.
Even though COVID-19 has produced some barriers, all students are grateful for all the local businesses for having them and for Parkes High School's transition advisor, Justine Morrissey, for going out of her way to make it happen.
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