Professional services company GHD of Tuggerah recently welcomed Wadalba Community School Year 9 and 10 students to their office to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) among high school female students.
Valuable insights into pursuing STEM careers were shared by GHD’s Regional Leader Central Coast David Coelli, Technical Director – Water Renee Johnson, and Central Coast Council representatives Danielle Hargreaves (Unit Manager Headworks and Treatment), Michelle Murrell (Water Education Officer), Dylan Magrin (Water Education Officer) and Tracey Lloyd (Process Engineer).
The students engaged in a young professionals panel session organised by GHD and learned about the younger generation’s personal experiences in getting to where they are today.
“It was wonderful to be able to expose these female students to possibilities they might not have thought of before and broaden their horizons to actually consider a STEM career,” GHD’s Northern NSW Water Market Leader Lee-Anne Sylva said.
“You cannot be what you cannot see.”
Students later got the chance to separate into smaller groups and have some hands-on experience in ecology and ‘aquanomics’, design, drones and virtual reality, and road and bridge modelling.
To conclude the day, they visited Somersby Water Treatment Plant, touring it from start to end.
The visit included using some specialised scientific equipment to measure temperature, pH, turbidity and salinity on different water parameters as part of the filtering exercise.
“Diverse teams enable the best solutions,” Coelli said.
“It was so nice to support female STEM students in our local community alongside Central Coast Council.
“We are looking forward to continuing collaboration with the Council on promoting gender equality into the future.”