By Casey Neill
Noble Park students are partnering with South East Water to guide a steady stream of girls into STEM careers.
The Women in the Pipeline program is a first for the water authority and is encouraging female students at Noble Park Secondary College to consider jobs in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
Two students from the college completed a work experience program.
“The girls thoroughly enjoyed their time there and will reflect on it as a positive experience to help them make decisions towards their future careers,” Noble Park Secondary College careers and VET co-ordinator Sandra Vaina said.
She said South East Water’s Shellie Watkins was one of the speakers who were invited to the school’s Future Pathways Expo.
“The students were totally captivated by her honesty and sincerity about her journey towards her current career,” she said.
South East Water education officer Mandy McDonald said a group of VCE chemistry students toured the Mount Martha Water Recycling Plant.
She said more than 40 per cent of the organisation’s employees worked in engineering, science and technical roles.
“STEM skills are crucial to our ability to deliver safe, reliable water and wastewater services,” she said.
“South East Water’s Women in the Pipeline program enables us to take traditionally male careers into secondary schools and promote them to female students.”
Ms McDonald said two thirds of children aged nine to 11 who were asked to draw a scientist drew a man.
“We need to remove the bias and stereotyping, and show that it’s fine to see a woman with steel cap boots, a hard hat, overalls and a high-vis vest taking water samples at water treatment plant, and providing analytical data to our teams,” she said.
“We want to demonstrate that the water industry provides excellent career opportunities for females as well as males.
“Noble Park Secondary College is similarly committed to getting girls excited about roles that may be traditionally thought of as male, so we naturally wanted to work with them.”
Ms McDonald hopes the students will develop a deeper understanding about particular STEM careers and appreciate that opportunities in these fields are inclusive to all, irrespective of gender.
“It’s also about thinking anything is possible. Career pathways are rarely linear so if you really want a career in something, consider both traditional and non-traditional ways to get there,” she said.
“It’s ultimately about widening our talent pool to ensure that we are securing the absolute best talent to work in our industry.
“We want to employ high performing people – regardless of gender or culture – who are truly passionate about our vision of healthy water for life so that we can deliver the best outcomes for our customers and community.”
