In Week 1 of Term 3, all of our Year 10 students participated in a “one week” Work Experience program as part of their Careers Education in Humanities class. Mrs Drennan had a number of outstanding examples of feedback that she received about how our students conducted themselves in the workplace. We also asked our students to write down some of what they had experienced and learnt. Here is a cross-section of what they had to say:
Rochelle Hondema
I did two weeks of Work Experience. During the first week I went to Armadale Hospital and looked after patients, checked blood pressure and cleaned dialysis machines. Observing a patient on the kidney machine and talking to patients was a highlight at the hospital. I went to ICU and observed a very sick man and lady and had the details of their charts explained to me. I had to wake up at 6.00am every day and throughout the week I got to try paediatrics, dialysis, surgical & medical and maternity. During the second week I went to work with an author, Elaine Fraser, on the first two days, and helped her with her novel, wrote quotes for her ‘Beautiful Books’ Facebook page, her blog and asked her many questions. For the last three days, I went to the Wilson Primary campus of Rehoboth and did sports teaching with the Kindy to Year 3’s. I also helped with the Year 5’s and made origami cranes and spelling tests. It was really good seeing all the old teachers again and helping the kids. I found all the supervisors during the two weeks to be very helpful, welcoming and nice. I guess I was a shining light in the darkness, especially for people in the hospital who felt they didn’t have much hope. I tried my hardest to be an example in Jesus, which was challenging at times.
Sara van Dam
The main highlights of my experience were:
- the dialysis ward, because I got to do so much and the lady was so nice and was really interested in what I wanted to do.
- the C-section procedure, because it was wonderful to see a lovely baby being introduced into the world. It was such a gift from God.
- It turned out that 3 of the 4 girls from other schools in my group were Christians so I could set a really good example to the people around me.
- I had to help the girls in my group because they had a cat-fight. It was horrible but I managed to help them work it out.
God blessed me very much in my work experience!!
Precious Muyola
I helped with Aged Care at Aegis. The things I most enjoyed were that I got to know people and played games with them and set up activities for them to do after their lunch and helped them to do things they had difficulty with. I so enjoyed getting lots of advice from people and being told to live life to its fullest. Some things that I didn’t enjoy were getting up so early and the long bus and train trips before and after work. I was able to contribute at work by assisting the Occupational Therapist and Physio Therapist with the things they did like massages, organising activities e.g. playing Bingo, and Crosswords.
Jacob Dalais
I worked at an attorney’s office in the city and the highlights of my experience were definitely coffee and lunch in the city, observing the appropriate way to behave in court, the questioning of witnesses and intriguing opening statements of lawyers. I worked mainly with my employer’s assistant, who set me up in the Magistrates’ Court to reflect on different cases such as speeding fines, disorderly conduct, grievous bodily harm and domestic disputes. In the District Court I sat in on a murder trial, the details of which are confidential. I was also entrusted to carry files and deliver confidential payments. I learnt a lot about the dark side of crime and court proceedings and that it is not what it is made out to be on the television.
Callum Noblet
I faced a range of tasks given to me, one of which was to learn the computer program that I was going to be using for the rest of the week. To do this I was given a set of videos to watch about Adobe After Effects and then moved on to making the Introduction Sequence for a company’s weekly news update. I used a camera and got to meet new people. A highlight for me was to use the skills I had for movie editing and graphic design in a real job! I also enjoyed meeting people who had the same passion as me. I didn’t enjoy getting up so early every day and the children turning off my computer while I was doing something else – but nothing was lost! I was able to contribute to the workplace by showing people methods I used in other programs. The people I worked with were Christian and we prayed each morning.
Simon Bryant
I worked at an engineering company and it gave me a good idea of work life outside of school. I cleaned, painted, did grinding, assembly, disassembly and fitting of mining vehicle parts. It was a dirty and long job that kept me busy all day, which was good I guess. The highlights were that I made good friendships with my fellow workers and learned lots of new things about mining vehicles. It also helped me narrow down my future workplace choices and the areas I work in. I did not like the waking up time in the morning and getting so grubby and having such short breaks during the day. Everyone swore, so I tried to be a good influence and not encourage their swearing by joining them. I worked hard and to the best of my ability.
Ashlyn Pedrotti
I gained an excellent overview of how a business runs, involved in doing payroll and balancing a checkbook (this was very informative), filling out expenditure reports, data entry (which I found quite relaxing), counting money, employer assessments and lost property collections (which involved a lot of waiting and walking, but little skill so it was a bit dull). My boss was also a Christian. I hope my positive attitude and hardworking spirit contributed to the workplace in some way.
Anthony Chin
I worked as a referee for my first four days at Bounce trampolines and then on the desk. My main duties were to see that people were safe and knew the rules. I also assisted in mopping the large fridge, stacking drinks and as a cashier. I enjoyed meeting the new staff and how they made me feel welcome. The customers were friendly. Although the staff weren’t Christians, they sure had strong values (except for using bad language). When the place was empty we got to do whatever we wanted to and the other Staff taught me all kinds of tricks on the trampolines. I was embarrassed when I failed, but the people showed me not to care and be myself at the workplace and that is something I have struggled with all my life.
Paul Kennedy
During my week of Work Experience I worked as an assistant engineer at Poons Head Studios and was given various tasks including polishing guitars, keeping the studio clean by vacuuming and maintaining and cleaning of the soundboard, a vital piece of equipment in the recording process. I also updated their website. The best part was being able to work with great people and create new relationships, seeing and hearing vintage equipment used to record the Beatles at the Abbey Road studios and hearing great music being recorded, mixed and mastered. My workmates knew I was a Christian and I hope through my actions and speech that they noticed a difference in me!
Daniel Wagener
I had the opportunity to work as a locksmith, cutting keys by encoding a machine which cuts the keys. I also got to re-key padlocks by taking them apart, making up a code and putting the correct pins in the padlock. I also was asked to clean machines at the end of the day. I enjoyed the light-hearted group of men I worked with – they were very patient with me. They also gave me the opportunity to go on site to see how they work with people. The most challenging aspect was when there were no customers for a few hours and then all of a sudden there would be four jobs in at once. I felt I could contribute as a Christian through my words and actions, taking on any task and working at it until it was finished.
Marcus Johnsen
I worked as an Information Technology Support Officer at PDC Engineering where I was assigned tasks such as computer assembly and repair, troubleshooting, labelling boardroom equipment and organising files. The experience that stood out to me the most was working with a 3Dmodeller/animator called Jiseon Kim. Mr Kim explained and demonstrated the basics of animating, special fx and photoshop. He had a very impressive and elaborate PC set-up. The only downside of the whole experience was waking up at 5.45am. I found this very challenging especially after staying up late for most of the holidays. I also struggled to adapt to the level of professionalism that was required since I was working with my friend, Miguel. I felt I contributed to the workplace by easing the tension by being humorous and I was able to relieve the stress of the current IT support by doing his work while he was away.
Taylah Phillips
I was very fortunate to do my work experience in the offices of Christian City Church, Langford, where I worked alongside the Pastor’s assistant and the Office Aid. I was set tasks of all kinds. On the first day I sat in on a meeting, took notes and then helped plan a conference by making powerpoint presentations that would be shown to the church. The following day I printed, laminated and cut 100 promotional flyers using a guillotine. My final day there was spent making gift packs for the Church and cleaning out the children’s cupboard. Each day I made coffee and lunch for the office. Some things I particularly loved were the atmosphere in the office and the manner the people worked in. While in the meeting questions were asked and notes were taken and then workers would work in their own offices. I liked the pace and loved the teamwork and yet the ability to work privately. Planning a conference is stressful and the workload was quite full on so I brought and made morning tea for the whole office. I wanted to take the pressure off of them even if it was only a small thing.
Chanelle Mears
My week of work experience required a lot of cleaning and making coffees! I did pricing of all stock and ripped two whole rolls of foil for dyeing hair, which would last them around a month or so. The things I enjoyed were learning how to curl, blow-dry and dye hair properly, interacting with customers and having fun with the other workers. The whole experience was just amazing and on the fourth day they allowed me to style a customer’s hair. I felt so honoured to be able to do that on a customer and they were quite impressed with the result and said they were proud of me for how the styling turned out. Doing that and receiving such encouraging comments boosted my confidence ‘majorly’ and I am so grateful for that and the ton of fun I had with the loveliest ladies I have ever worked with. Standing and walking/ running around doing specific tasks all day and waking up so early were the challenges. I did my best in everything I was asked to do and looked for things to do to help others even when they didn’t ask me and I felt really responsible through doing that. I interacted with every customer that walked in, and served them coffee or tea. I had such an incredible experience doing as much as I could and had fun at the same time. I would definitely do it again.
Jasmine Blennerhassett
I spent the week at St Joseph’s Primary School and was able to assist in a Year Two classroom with almost all of the tasks and duties of an early-childhood teacher. The highlights were the enjoyment of being able to work with the kids and especially when I had to sit with a couple of them who needed extra help with their work. I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent outside at lunch and recess swinging a jump-rope for them and having a respected role where the children listened to me and were able to learn from what I taught them. A low-light during the week surprised me very much, and in so doing, helped me to further plan my career … I wanted to teach the Kindergarten and Pre-Primary classes and was disappointed to be put in the Year Two class, but what a blessing that turned out to be. I loved the older kids. When I eventually got to spend time with the little ones, I didn’t enjoy it at all! This has helped to point me in the right direction.
Lindsay Martin
I found working as a Sports teacher a great experience because of seeing the kids smile and laugh at things. My job was to teach and help the children learn and improve in their team-work skills. The thing I loved about the experience was that I felt like I was helping a lot of children with their health. The hardest part of the week was waking up early, making my own lunch and also walking into a place that I hardly know the people.
Thomas Atkinson
I had to have a brief overview on how to do the tasks before I could be assigned things to do as the computer parts I had in my grasp were pricey and it would not be good if I were to break or damage them. After the brief, a customer came in saying his computer wouldn’t turn on. The tech-support explained how to diagnose it and then he fixed it. The next customer came in and I was told to do it by myself and I did! I was told to assemble a gaming-computer, which was very, very expensive. My highlights were holding a $1000+ new graphics card that was a special edition and only a few people would actually get to see it. I assembled and carried it to the customer. You should have seen the look on his face when I said I had assembled it. He turned pale! It was easy to tell that this was not a Christian workplace by the topics they exchanged and the way they talked to each other so I decided that the most Christian thing I could do there was not to join in with those conversations, but rather to make myself useful. I overheard someone commenting that the place was messy, so while they were out, I organised the screw drawer and corrected the placing of computer parts in the storage area and this was most appreciated.
