Many thanks to and to the 13 inspiring women who volunteered their time to visit Oran Park High School last Wednesday to inspire 85 Oran Park and Mount Annan High School students (mainly year 11) to consider career options in technology related occupations and share their unique career journeys since leaving school.

The event commenced with an inspiring keynote speech from Sandra Kubecka, Director of Community Assets at Camden Council, followed by a panel interview of seven guest speakers from AWS and other organisations. The main component of the event was a speed career networking activity during which all students had informal conversations with each of the 13 volunteer speakers.

 In the student feedback survey, most of the students said that they heard about career options that they were previously unaware of and learned that career pathways are not linear and have unexpected challenges along the way, especially in traditionally male dominated industries. It also became evident to them that they will need to self-manage their career journey after leaving school.  75% of students said that the event helped them confirm or decide what subjects to study in the future. The following student comments from the survey convey the high level of appreciation they had for the opportunity.

·       I loved all the ladies who came today they gave me lots of inspiration.

·       It is helpful that the women come from different countries and have still been able to become successful and prove themselves even when faced with disadvantages.

·       I liked talking with the people and understanding what they do in their field and how they got there.

·       I liked talking and having conversations about tech jobs and being able to ask questions.

·       I appreciated the advice from successful women who came from different cultural backgrounds.

·       I liked all of the advice they gave and how they motivated us to follow our passions.

·       There were people who didn’t know what they wanted to do when they were at school, so it felt good knowing that there were people like that.

·       Today’s session was very helpful and I’m so grateful I was given the opportunity to be a part of this.

·       I loved everything and I hope it happens again before the end of year 12.

ITF Australia, the schools and students greatly appreciate the support of the event sponsor AWS in Communities and the following organisations that enabled their employees to participate: Amazon Web Services, Mott MacDonald, Roberts Co, Academy of Interactive  Technology and  Camden City Council.