I went to two places for my work experience – a pharmacy and the ASB Innovation & Technology hub. I was interested in these two industries, but I had no idea which one I would prefer. Before this experience, I thought I had a pretty good insight into what each job would be like. It was very different from being told what it would be like and getting to see it. This experience gave me a good insight into both careers and gave me a clearer understanding of what I would do if I chose to become either a Pharmacist or a Software Engineer. It also gave me better knowledge about the job. For example, I expected that the Software Engineer would only write codes for a programme, but it actually involves a lot of communication with other people before they start to write code. I expected that Pharmacists need good knowledge about the medicines they deal with, but a lot more is needed to be very skilled; not only do they memorise what each drug is for, but where they are in the pharmacy as well as having to check if medicines can be used together. Overall, this experience was beneficial and gave me a clear indication of what to choose as my future career!
Anna Cho, Year 12
On Friday 17 June, Skyler Anderson, Amy O’Neill, Maya Perera, Bailey Boyd and Brooke Stevenson all attended Forensic Insights Ltd (www.forensicinsight.co.nz) as a part of their work experience. The aim of the day was to learn more about a career in forensics from the activities our mentors (Tom and Allie Coyle) had planned. The day started off with a focus on what forensics really was. We learnt about the types of crime scenes and emergency aid scenes that Tom attended, to aid in identifying bodies. There was a focus on ways to gather evidence without disrupting a crime scene and then using that evidence to conclude who the murderer was. We put these lessons into action with a mock crime scene. We split into two groups and were made to collect blood swabs, fingerprints and to take note of everything at the ‘crime scene’. After a quick lunch break, we set about matching a shoe print to a list of suspects. Tom and Allie then taught us about the different kinds of fingerprints and how to match our identified one with the list of suspects on a computer. Both teams managed to identify the murderer! The day ended with all of us taking our own fingerprints using special ink and paper.
Overall, the day was a huge success and all of us had an incredible time. I can say for certain that all those who attended would have walked away with new knowledge and a keen interest in forensics.
Skyler Anderson, Year 12
For our Year 12 Work Experience, we had the pleasure of going to 95bFM at the University of Auckland campus. We were guided by Digital News Sub-Editor, Jessica Hopkins, who toured us through the behind-the-scenes of the radio newsroom, introduced us to the work of digital and social media journalism and then assigned us our own practical tasks. On Thursday, we scanned through recent news of that day and were allocated a topic each to write our own articles. These were then published on the 95bFM news page and can be found there to read, and had also been mentioned on the radio that day. On Friday, we collaborated on an article about Matariki, which is to be published on the 95bFM news page. We were then assigned news bulletins in which we selected a recent news topic and wrote a piece each, which was to be said on the radio that day during the news segment. This experience exceeded our expectations and equipped us with valuable journalism techniques and practices that we will carry into our future career pathways. The 95bFM station was so supportive throughout our time there and made us feel we were part of the team. We left our work experience filled with passion and new found knowledge, already eager to return.
Zoe Beaver and Ruby Kidd, Year 12
