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Two thousand five hundred students from all secondary schools across the Latrobe, Baw Baw, South Gippsland and Bass Coast Shires attended the biggest JobSkills Expo ever staged in the region.
More than 100 exhibitors provided a showcase of careers at Warragul’s Lardner Park with hands on activities in areas such as bricklaying, carpentry, hospitality, horticulture and more.
The JobSkills Expo was organised by Baw Baw Latrobe LLEN in partnership with South Gippsland Bass Coast LLEN and the Central Gippsland Career Advisory Group. Financial sponsorship came from 15 organisations including Local Government, EIV, GippsTAFE, AGA, Monash University, Lowanna College, West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority, Sure Constructions, Stable Roads, Murray Goulburn and MEGT. Their support greatly contributed to the day, enabling provision for free transport for every student to and from the Expo. This significantly increased student participation and removed any barriers students faced because of distance
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Other attractions of the event included Gippsland Flight Centre who brought along a flight simulator for students to trial their skills at flying an aeroplane, SP AusNet with a remote controlled helicopter which had a camera attached allowing students to fly and view live footage on laptop computer and Class Harvest Centre Gippsland displayed a variety of farm machinery for students to gain a better understanding of the many skills needed to build, operate and maintain them. GippsTAFE had their music student bands entertain everyone throughout the day and showcased some amazing up and coming local talent, they added a real party atmosphere to the day.
Eleven industry based topics were presented over 24 seminars throughout the day. Guest speakers from each industry covered career pathways, training and job opportunities. The Conference facility at Lardner Park was the ideal location for the seminars. Guest speakers included Shaun Johnson, GippsTAFE Automotive; Laura Carson, CCG Hair & Beauty; Chris Senini, NCDEA Ag/Dairy/Hort and Greg Huckstepp from the Defence Force Recruiting team, highlighting the many career opportunities available to students.
School staff were extremely impressed with the day, commenting “The mix of presenters and range of exhibitors was great, the whole atmosphere of the event with the GippsTAFE band playing and all the different demonstrations was fantastic.” And “I liked how my students were able to see the diversity of options available to them and hear the career information and opportunities from someone in the field.”
Exhibitors were also impressed with the Expo, “I enjoyed the atmosphere, the venue, and meeting the other exhibitors. It was a great venue and a huge amount of work went into organising this day.” And “I really enjoyed interacting with the large numbers of students, the exhibitor facilities were also excellent!”
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