We spoke to Charles Impey from Calrossy Anglican School in Tamworth about how he uses Careers with STEM resources in the classroom
We met career advisor, Charles, earlier this year at the BiG Day In event hosted by the University of Newcastle, where he told us about his awesome careers hub for students to explore what they may be interested in!
We got talking about how he uses Careers with STEM resources and how he likes to inspire students as a careers advisor.
Q: How long have you been following Careers with STEM?
A: Almost 9 years, perhaps since Careers with STEM was founded in 2014
Q: How do you use Careers with STEM in your school?
A: I use the resources to draw the attention of students to the many and varied occupations, pathways and opportunities that exist in the STEM world of careers.
It really is limitless in terms of where students both now and in the future will land.
I see my role as a career advisor in a school as being a source to help students explore and go beyond anything they know. The saying ‘they don’t know what they don’t know’ rings so true. Helping the students to expand their interests and awareness often helps them discover what they had never thought of and to see many of the students decide to make a pathway towards one of these new areas because they choose to is so rewarding.
Q: What is your favourite resource?
A: The Job Kits are always an interesting read for students, the STEM + X quizzes are always a favourite for the students who have a pre-existing or want to expand their science, geography, maths, and technology interests, and sometimes even those who don’t have an interest as the quizzes help them discover something new.
The Careers with STEM magazines are THE BEST… other standouts are the many varied articles, the A-Z of series… even the Careers you should tell your child about… and so many more, these resources are totally awesome.
Students love videos, who doesn’t love a video from time to time. They say a picture tells a thousand words, but a video tells so many more.
The Careers With STEM Video Playlists are extraordinary, the Careers With STEM Youtube Channel is sensational.
Meeting in person
I remember coming across a Careers With STEM at Australian Manufacturing Week with Cassie (Careers with STEM designer, photographer and contributor) a couple of years ago. Cassie interviewed a number of people talking about the jobs and the tech out there, this is particularly useful for those students who live in the smaller communities across Australia.
Fortunately, where I live in Tamworth hosts the largest food processing sector in Australia and I’m told the largest manufacturing region outside of Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong in the State of NSW.
Robotics and technology are a growing part of the manufacturing scene in Tamworth, but for those who live in more rural and remote areas of NSW, or my students who are boarders and come from these smaller communities, it is always an eye-catcher to see the sights and sounds Cassie showcases on the video.
Just for the record, we do take our students out to the Tamworth manufacturing scene, with thanks to Business NSW and the Training Services NSW REIP Officer.
Watching this video gave me the first glimpse of the Augmented Welding Simulator, which Michelle Bignold from Weld Australia talks about.
There are just so many brilliant resources created by the Careers With STEM team, I love them all.
Q: How do you like to inspire students when thinking about their futures?
A: I like to bring in the village to help inspire my students, it does take a village to raise them.
I am a member of a number of groups, committees and have very extensive contacts after 25 years in the careers space, most of which is outside of schools and at times regionally, state and nationally focused.
I try to take students to the BiG Day In event each year because it gives them a chance to get out of the classroom and network with real-world STEM professionals from leading tech companies.
From time to time draw on LinkedIn to seek out people who do extraordinary things in life to Zoom in and chat with our students about their incredible (but within reach and achievable for many) careers to help inspire.
Life for a career advisor in a rural, regional or remote school is all about developing and creating partnerships.
A lot of opportunities exist on the doorstep or just down the road for students in the capital cities around Australia, however away from the capital cities, particularly in the regional, rural and remote areas, opportunities drop off.
This is where a proactive and energetic school career advisor can pick up the gap between city and country, to create the opportunities young people need so that there can be more of a level playing field for students who don’t reside in a capital city.
Careers With STEM certainly contributes fantastically in helping to bridge the gap using web-based and hard-copy resources. Thank you Careers With STEM.
If you’re keen to find some more resources to help inspire your students, be sure to sign up for the Education Insider newsletter!
