General News
7 August, 2024
Learning experience
LOCAL students got a greater understanding and appreciation about the construction industry.
Students from Cobden Technical School, Timboon P-12 School, Hampden Specialist School and Derrinallum College spent a day visiting various sites within the Corangamite Shire with the purpose of developing their understanding of what the construction industry entails at the career opportunities in the field.
GreenCon manager of business support services Tony McAuliffe, along with the Neil Porter Legacy (NPL) planned the day.
As part of the day students visited GreenCon, Fonterra in Cobden, a nearly completed new-build rotary dairy near Simpson and an operational dairy in Cooriemungle.
“The aim of the day was to shape experiences that show students the breadth of job opportunities within the construction industry – and in particular job opportunities that sit a little outside what I feel most would usually associate with the physical act of actually ‘doing’ construction,” Mr McAuliffe said.
“We are also acknowledging GreenCon’s history of construction in the agricultural sector and dairying industry, so there is a natural dairy industry theme to what was planned.”
The event was part of the NPL’s 50/50 program which pairs industry members with current secondary school classes.
Students taking part in the program are exposed to pathways, workplaces and skills needed in the area through working with industry members during regular school lessons.
A NPL spokesperson said the content of the lessons was matched to the school’s curriculum, so students extend their classroom learning as well as receive career education.
“Students that took part in this day received an overview of various careers in construction, dairy and dairy processing and links to their classroom learning in areas including maths, science and business management,” the spokesperson said.
“NPL appreciated all the hard work and prior planning GreenCon put in to the make the day so successful for the students of the Corangamite Shire.”