GPG Australia welcomed teachers organised by the Catholic Education Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocese from all over NSW and ACT, to their headquarter office on Tuesday 19 July. Karen Ruppert, the Vocational Education Leader from the Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocese, organised an industry immersion program to assist their teachers with information that guides the Catholic Education School students. This year, Karen chose to focus on emerging industries and contacted Jo Marshall, the Community and Stakeholder Engagement Officer for Crookwell 2 & 3 wind farms. Jo, who is also involved with local Upper Lachlan Youth and has two daughters of her own, understands how daunting it is to know about and choose a career. “What the teachers are doing to visit and experience first-hand the company facilities is a great idea”.
More than happy to help the teachers learn about careers in the wind industry, the company organised a visit to the head office in Canberra to firstly talk to the team, introduce the company and explain the profile of job positions that are currently part of its staff; there are many jobs that are needed to design, develop, and construct a renewable asset such a wind farm, a solar farm or a battery energy storage system.
After that introduction, the group of teachers travelled to Crookwell to visit the Crookwell 2 wind farm, finalising their day exploring more career opportunities in the area, involving environmental and regenerative agriculture and a visit to the Lindner Sock Factory, a historical family-owned business supporting local producers and embracing sustainability.
With the emergence of renewable energy, many young Australians are currently wondering how to get started in the industry. There are many jobs positions that needs to be covered; technicians can begin at TAFE with an electrician’s qualification, or alternatively go to university and attain a degree. It really depends on the type of job the student is interested in holding within the industry. Karen is exploring opportunities to break down barriers between industry and education. As she said, “students can’t be what they can’t see. GPG’s generosity in sharing their work has exposed our students to industries that they may not have experienced or considered and provides them with the opportunity to embed their classroom learning into real world applications”.
“It was an amazing immersive experience. Renewable energy is an industry that needs our students, ‘the change makers’ to see what is possible in a diverse range of roles. The pathways and opportunities are huge and being able to see it first-hand was priceless”, commented Ingrid Thompson, VET and Pathways Leader
“With the theme of our conference “you can’t be what you can’t see” the visit to GPG hit the mark! The information we received from the Head Office in Canberra, and then our site visit really opened our eyes to the career possibilities our students -present and future- have before them. I had no idea of the wide range of career pathways that are available in renewable energy. Our future depends on renewable and sustainable energy and therefore we are reliant on our students to find careers in this industry. Thank you GPG!”, stated Cathy Bierman, Carroll College Broulee Coordinator.
GPG Australia firmly believes that the coordination and collaboration between the utility, industrial and education sectors is crucial to be able to appropriately cover all the needs in a continuous feedback loop and will continue looking forward for potential collaborations.
