Yearbook 2021

Careers Report

This year, my work as a Careers Adviser, has once again, been a real challenge as so many changes and developments occurred because of the ongoing pandemic. It was also a really difficult time for the students with limited access to face to face career information via information nights, guest speakers and Expos. Nevertheless, Year 12 students managed to get to the Young Careers Expo in April and had 3 days on their Year 12 excursion in Wagga exploring lots of career opportunities. It takes a lot of work to organise these events and activities and I am always so pleased to hear that students find them useful, helpful and sometimes a ‘game changer’. Due to the pandemic and its flow on effects, many Universities also had early entry schemes and our Hennessy students were among the first to receive multiple offers from June through to November. HSC results and ATAR’s will be delayed this year and early offers can help students make plans rather than wait until the last minute. Year 12 - Wagga excursion As mentioned Year 12 students and 5 staff headed off to the Wagga region for a 3-day excursion encompassing a variety of team building and career-based activities. The excursion was a Plan B event given that the usual week long trip to Sydney was cancelled due to COVID. The students embraced the chance to get away, relax and spend some time together in their final year of school and are to be complimented on their overall behavior, respectfulness, and enthusiasm. Over the course of the three days, we toured the local Wagga TAFE Campuses to learn more about vocational education and training (VET) courses. At the Macleay St Campus, we saw amazing facilities in hair and beauty, childcare, construction, plumbing, commercial cookery and learned about diplomas, certificates, and different entry pathways. Then we headed to the TAFE NSW Primary Industries Centre (PIC) to explore agricultural courses including wool classing, horticulture, and animal studies and the heavy diesel mechanic apprenticeship program run in conjunction with Case, John Deere and New Holland. On day 3 we did a campus tour of Charles Sturt Uni with CSU staff, Kristen and Michael, followed by lunch and two short lectures about study skills and early entry. It was encouraging to see so many students keen to take up the opportunity to study at the Wagga campus after our tour. While most of the group were walking around CSU Wagga Campus, Imogen Noakes, Ailish Moore and Kyle Price chose to head to the University of NSW Rural Medical School where they got to hear firsthand about rural medicine and entry opportunities. Professor Tara Mackenzie, Associate Dean of Rural Health in the Riverina, and Associate Professor Rashid Hashmi, the Director of Medical Education, took time out of their busy schedules to speak one on one with the students about securing a place at the Wagga Base Hospital training facility. We also heard from first year medical student, Charlotte Barker, who spoke about the UCAT exam and her experiences in her first year of medicine. After that, it was a visit to the Anatomy room and the Clinical Skills and Simulation Lab with Educator Michael Maw. National Careers Week Activities National Careers Week is an initiative of the Career Industry Council of Australia and aims to celebrate careers, career development, career development services, and career development practitioners and to promote the economic, social and personal benefits of career development. 2021 Careers Week at Hennessy had a slightly different approach due to COVID restrictions however students were given the opportunity to learn more about various careers through the information provided each day.