Horsham College students explore careers through week of vital work experience

A cohort of fresh-faced Horsham College Year 10 students have dipped their toes into the professional world to gain exposure in potential career paths.

By Ben Fraser

Liam Richardson at Elite Podiatry.

Abbey Brown, Seth Ezard, William Hall, Liam Richardson, Lander Rosello, Riley McCallum, Lachlan North, and Olivia Young were among about 100 students who spent the week at various locations for work experience.

Following a conversation at Kalkee Football Netball Club, Liam gained hands-on experience at Elite Podiatry.

“What actually sparked the idea to come here was I knew one of the Kalkee Football & Netball club coaches, Andy (Andrew Devereaux), worked here, and so I asked him about it as this is in the type of field I might like to work in one day,” he said.

“I’ve really enjoyed my placement, especially looking at the machines and how they’re used to fix people's problems.

“The people at Elite Podiatry are very friendly, they let me know what to do or who I was with, and let me listen to whatever they are doing.

“One thing that really stood out to me was how they interact and talk to people.”

Lander’s placement with Horsham Dental Group helped him learn more about the dental field.

“The people at Horsham Dental Group are good; they’ve helped me throughout my placement,” he said.

“I’ve mostly helped with preparation and cleaning up after practices, but I’ve also assisted the customers and learnt some of the components you need to operate as a dentist.

“I’ve definitely enjoyed getting a taste for my potential future career, and would definitely recommend Horsham Dental Group for other students; it’s a very friendly and inviting environment.”

Similarly, Will spent the week with Dental on Errard in Ballarat.

“Without my amazing family, and the community running public transport, I don’t think my placement would be possible; they’ve really helped me solve the challenging thoughts of how I’d get from Horsham to Ballarat Central,” he said.

“This experience has given me a better understanding of the medical field and how professionals organise themselves, but also exposed me to the many pathways a dentist can choose.

“Throughout this experience, I’ve helped out after patients have been taken care of, but also by setting up the room for the next patient, assuring they feel welcome and safe.

“I would definitely recommend Dental on Errard for anyone interested. The staff have treated me kindly ever since I first reached out.”

At Headspace, Olivia gained valuable insight into community work.

“My placement with Headspace was excellent, and I definitely enjoyed it,” she said.

“It really allowed me to learn everyone's different positions and purposes, and see if this could be something I wanted to take further steps toward going into this kind of job.

“One thing I definitely didn’t realise was actually how much ‘behind the scenes’ paperwork or writing up things there is, you kind of think of it as more of a hands-on and getting to really know people.

“This placement definitely gave me a better insight, especially for what I want to do in the future, whether it be psychology, or like therapy, or social work even, and it’s really allowed me to see if Headspace is right for me."

Abbey said her time at TerryWhite Chemart allowed her to explore the day-to-day tasks at a pharmacy.

“My purpose at TerryWhite was taking scripts from customers, sorting them, and really getting to learn about medications, and the natural medicines, as they do a lot of that here,” she said.

“The purpose of my placement was to really explore a different pharmacy, and TerryWhite has really allowed me to do that.

“I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in pharmacy, or even just like how medicines are made.”

Lachlan’s week at Wimmera Lutheran College provided him with insight into the life of a PE teacher.

“I really enjoyed getting the youth involved in sports, especially with activities like dodgeball or skipping that really get them engaged at a young age,” he said.

“My placement with Wimmera Lutheran College was very welcoming, everyone is very friendly and willing to get things if you need,” he said.

“I really was shocked to see, actually, how much the younger kids look up to someone, especially a teacher or teacher's aide.

“This placement really showed me how to communicate efficiently with different groups of people, but also more on how to really get them involved.

“I would definitely recommend this placement to anyone interested in this kind of field; any sort of teaching, sports, or anything related would be beneficial.”

Lachlan added that his experience helped shape his career goal of becoming a personal trainer.