FOR Katie Newton, making paint is an opportunity to see what a future in engineering might hold for her.<\/p>\n
The student leader at Ballarat Tech School’s STEM academy was one of a few on Friday 22 May to experience industrial chemistry and engineering firsthand.<\/p>\n
Fifty year 9 and 10 students from 12 secondary schools across the Ballarat region enjoyed a tailored experience from the tech school and Haymes Paint.<\/p>\n
The students mixed base paint, tested performance and designed formulations, which are the same processes professional chemists and engineers use every day.<\/p>\n
“I really enjoy these experiences because it just gives me more insights on the world, and what I can do when I’m older,” Newton said.<\/p>\n
“For my future, I’m thinking about engineering.”<\/p>\n
The year 10 student liked the subject because “everything is your own a lot of the time”.<\/p>\n
“When you create an idea, or come up with an idea, you make it your own,” she said.<\/p>\n
Haymes chief executive officer Rodney Walton was on hand to see the students in action.<\/p>\n
He said it was wonderful to see them engage practical skills that could be applied while working in the region.<\/p>\n
“This is a real-life example here,” he said. “They’re here actually making paint.<\/p>\n
“We can see, being a family business investing back in Ballarat, people who will want to come and bring their skills and knowledge into our family business for the next generation.<\/p>\n
“So we can all continue to see manufacturing prosper here in Ballarat.”<\/p>\n
Kirstyn Hall, the tech school’s pathways and partnerships manager and the STEM academy coordinator, said the students had seen stuff they had not before.<\/p>\n
The academy was a four-day program delivered across two terms in partnership with two local manufacturing partners in Haymes and Gekko.<\/p>\n
“You can’t be what you can’t see, so let’s show them,” Hall said. “That’s what this program is about.”<\/p>\n
She said the students themselves were an impressive bunch.<\/p>\n
“They’re all interested, engaged, curious, getting to know each other,” she said. “They’re building a network.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FOR Katie Newton, making paint is an opportunity to see what a future in engineering might hold for her. The student leader at Ballarat Tech School’s STEM academy was one of a few on Friday 22 May to experience industrial chemistry and engineering firsthand. Fifty year 9 and 10 students from 12 secondary schools across […]<\/p>\n