26 May 2022
Two new staff at Albany schools are shaping the future of students while helping local businesses at the same time.
North Albany Senior High School and Albany Senior High School have new dedicated career practitioners to support students when making their career choices.
Nina Goodwin, career practitioner at Albany Senior High School.
Focussing on providing individual counselling to guide students, the career practitioners are connecting with industry professionals and universities to provide mentor opportunities for students and up-to-date careers information.
Heidi Benson works in the role of career practitioner at North Albany Senior High School, and Nina Goodwin at Albany Senior High School.
Throughout the school term the two women provide information about job opportunities to students, with many of them already gaining part-time employment.
Ms Benson and Ms Goodwin already took a group of Year 12 students from both schools to a Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) Jumpstart workshop, where they learnt about career opportunities and heard from experts in the field.
Heidi Benson, career practitioner at North Albany Senior High School.
Ms Benson said she and Ms Goodwin were also planning a careers expo in August.
“Nina and I have spoken with several local stakeholders from various industries, including agriculture, healthcare, construction, and more, to discuss their employment needs and invite them to have stalls at our upcoming careers expo,” said Ms Benson.
“This will allow students to connect with local businesses directly and receive relevant information about each industry to inform their individual career planning.”
Albany secondary students have already benefitted from this new connection between their schools and local employers. One North Albany Senior High School Year 10 student is training one day a week with a local carpenter after a business contacted the school looking for a suitable work placement student.
Ms Benson said the collaboration between the two schools is vital to the students’ career planning.
“I feel so fortunate to be joining forces with Nina in this role so we can share resources and work together to help students within our community to make connections between what they are learning in the classroom and the world of work,” she said.