Three St Martins Lutheran College students and a chaperone were recently invited to an all-expenses paid trip to Western Australia to explore the HMAS Stirling and participate in an immersive experience focussing on career pathways and the many technical roles the Navy has to offer.
The lucky students were treated to the experience courtesy of the college winning the Navy Emerging Technicians Award competition, with the college conducting an expression of interest process selecting two Year 11 students and one Year 12 student to participate.
Spanning across two days, students Ebony Bott, Lara Scanlon and Petah Wood along with college careers counsellor Linda Polomka were provided with a variety of experiences which showcased the different aspects of life and work in the Royal Australian Navy.
They had the privilege of attending a dinner with serving members, participating in a base tour and the opportunity to speak with some of Royal Australian Navy’s best and brightest as they went about their daily routines.
The students were also given a session on weapons and training scenarios, where they learnt valuable firefighting skills.
A highlight of the trip was a tour of HMAS Perth where they were able to talk with a range of Navy personnel working in a variety of serving roles.
Miss Bott said she benefited from the fantastic opportunity.
“I really enjoyed the experience and learned a lot that I had not known beforehand,” she said.
“I’m happy I got to see all the different roles and career paths that are needed and am very interested in the possibility of the Navy as a career.”
Mrs Polomka was also full of praise for the experience.
“The strong, immersive nature of the experience allowed our students to experience first-hand the many different aspects of day-to-day life in the Navy with a particular focus on STEM related careers, specifically electronics and robotics,” she said.
Winning this competition also meant St Martin’s Lutheran College was awarded with a ‘Makeblock Ultimate 2.0’ robotics lesson pack, which included a Navy developed enquiry learning activity based on autonomous vehicles in maritime environments.
With the college having an active and expanding Robotics and Technology curriculum this will be a useful resource, particularly for middle school students.
Up to 10 different programmable robots can be made with the kit which will challenge students to create increasingly complex, functional robots using advanced coding and electronics skills.
