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eMentoring Coordinator Dr Audrey Bester presenting the In2science partner school certificate to Maffra Secondary College link teacher Kristen Raine, Assistant Principal Nathan Wallace and some past and present eMentees.

The first quarter of the year is a busy time for In2science. Regional visits to our partner schools are sometimes scheduled before mentoring placements begin. This year, eMentoring Coordinator Dr Audrey Bester travelled east to Gippsland to catch up with the teachers at Traralgon College and Maffra Secondary College, to ensure that the support we are providing is optimally tailored for our regional schools.  

Traralgon College was first on the list. It was a good time to reacquaint ourselves with old and new teachers. We had the privilege of sitting in on a science faculty meeting, where we discussed the needs of different cohorts within the school. An advantage of the In2science eMentoring model is that mentoring occurs via video conferencing with small groups of students. This means teachers can provide us with specific information about the students’ interests, so eMentors can tailor their support.

The next day we visited Maffra Secondary College. In2science was welcomed by a group of students comprising past and current eMentees, a definite highlight of the entire trip! Photos were taken and stories were shared. Some eMentoring groups had already begun placements by the time we arrived, and it was great to hear from the students themselves that the mentoring sessions were off to a good start . Maffra Secondary College was one of the first eMentoring partner schools of In2science and took part in the pilot of the online mentoring model when it debuted in 2016. We were treated to a tour of the school and a delicious lunch with the staff before having to take the trip back to Melbourne.

eMentoring Coordinator Dr Audrey Bester presenting the In2science partner school certificate to the Science Faculty of Traralgon College, Traralgon.

In2science would like to thank Maffra Secondary College and Traralgon College for such warm hospitality from the staff and students. It is a privilege for us to support these schools and students. The dedication from these teachers to provide their students with the best STEM education was clear as soon as we met. We hope to visit East Gippsland again soon!

For more information about the In2science program Click Here.

If you would like to host a mentor as a regional school, Click Here or contact Dr Audrey Bester, eMentoring Coordinator.

In2science team members Will, Audrey and Shobie visit the RMIT University Flight Training School

By Dr Audrey Bester

Each year In2science coordinators travel all around Victoria to deliver STEM roadshows and other outreach activities with our partner universities, including Science Delivery from The University of Melbourne and The RMIT Regional Roadshow. For my first road trip with In2science, I travelled to Bendigo with La Trobe University (LTU) Coordinator, Shobie Dorai Singam, and RMIT University Coordinator, Dr Will Sullivan, to visit LTU’s Bendigo campus, tour RMIT’s flight training school and visit Eaglehawk Secondary College. Here’s how the day unfolded…

6:30am: The sun finally started to rise. It was an early start for me. Before leaving to meet Shobie, I checked our itinerary, replied to some last-minute emails and made sure I had packed everything we needed. Of course, priority was given to road trip snacks and organising a robust, energizing playlist for Shobie and I to drink our morning coffee to as we zoomed up the Calder Freeway.

8:00am: Finally, on the road! The smell of burnt coffee from a drive-through is nostalgic for me and I bury the flavour with sugar. We spend approximately 45 minutes trying to get out of the chaos that is Melbourne rush hour.

10:20am: We arrive at La Trobe University’s Bendigo campus. First on our agenda is a meeting with Dr Rodrigo Rico Bini, a Lecturer in Exercise Physiology at the La Trobe Rural Health School. He’s enthusiastic about the program and believes that several physiology students may be interested in volunteering.

11:00am: We meet with Lecturer, Dr Sabine Wilkens, and Senior Coordinator, Ms. Siobhan Downing. Dr Sabine has been promoting In2science at LTU Bendigo to her Pharmacy students for several years and we discussed the logistics of providing training on site at LTU’s regional campuses, something In2science would love to do. Siobhan expressed that Bachelor of Biomedical Science students are keen to apply to be mentors. We are thrilled to hear this and welcome applications from all students studying STEM and to provide in-class mentors from regional campuses to local schools!

12:00pm: After saying goodbye to the LTU Bendigo Campus, we drove to the RMIT Flight Centre to meet with In2science’s RMIT University Coordinator, Dr Will Sullivan. He introduces us to aviation engagement coordinator, Dr Patrick (Pat) Griffiths who takes Shobie and I on a tour of the new flight school. RMIT’s Bendigo Flight Training site is brand new and has been in operation since mid-2019. It is an impressive facility!

We spent some time in the hangar and observed planes landing and taking off. Then, we made our way to a room with enormous screens and seating to simulate a cockpit. The simulation allows students to practise flying from any airport in the world. I resist the urge to ask Pat for a demonstration but make a mental note to do it next time. Pat informs us that In2science mentors and mentees are always welcome to organise an excursion to the flight centre for a tour, and possibly get into the air for a ride!

1:00pm: Will, Shobie and I take a short break for lunch, but we had to be quick. Students were gathering back at LTU Bendigo Campus for a pre-orientation session at which we were speaking!

1:20pm: We speak with students at the Early Connections Course Welcome event at LTU Bendigo. This event is a pre-orientation for students starting a degree at the College of Science, Health and Engineering. Most of them are starting their university journeys so are interested in applying as a mentor for In2science next year. However, there are some Honours students keen to support high school STEM students, locally, in 2020.

3:00pm: We are joined by Will and Pat Griffiths again and visit Eaglehawk Secondary College, a valued partner school and long-term supporter of In2science. The Maths Faculty were gathering for a meeting, and we joined them for an icebreaker game of Spot It! We present the In2science partner school certificate to teacher, Michelle Nevins, and her colleagues, Casey, Rebecca and Jason, who have hosted many In2science mentors over the years. One of these mentors now works at Eaglehawk SC!

The In2science team presents partnership certificate to Eaglehawk Secondary College’s, Michelle Nevins and colleagues.

Eaglehawk SC is unique because it qualifies as a regional school but is also near the LTU Bendigo campus. Consequently, they can request eMentors to support their students online and host in-class mentors to join their STEM classrooms.

4:00pm: We say our goodbyes to the teachers and Eaglehawk with promises to return and commence the drive back home to Melbourne in Olwen the Toyota Yaris.

6:30pm: Melbourne rush hour strikes again! We finally arrive back at La Trobe University, Melbourne campus. Despite the long day Shobie and I enjoyed it immensely and are feeling energised about the year ahead. It was a real privilege to meet and engage with some of the people who help facilitate, and experience benefit from, the In2science program. This certainly won’t be my last regional visit for the year, but it was a great one to start with. Spirits are high as we begin training new In2science mentor applicants in preparation for placement with secondary school students all over the state.

For more information about the In2science program Click Here.

If you would like to host a mentor as a regional school, Click Here or contact Dr Audrey Bester, eMentoring Coordinator.

In recognition of In2science’s positive contribution and commitment in supporting underrepresented groups at university, The Department of Education and Training (DET) has awarded the peer-mentoring program with additional funding to support Victorian regional and rural students until 2023. As part of the Regional and Rural School Reform package, funding will ensure the continued development, enhancement and expansion of the In2science eMentoring program for regional and rural government schools across Victoria.

Since its inception in 2016, eMentoring has positively impacted 202 secondary school students at 23 schools in regional and rural Victoria. eMentoring fosters students’ enthusiasm for science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and encourages them to pursue higher education. In2science’s online mentoring model directly addresses many of the challenges experienced by regional and rural students like increasing awareness of, and access to, STEM educational opportunities as they engage with passionate and enthusiastic STEM university students.

This funding builds the capacity of In2science, an award-winning and innovative program, to work more effectively with regional and rural government school students, particularly groups that are underrepresented in STEM. This includes girls, indigenous students and students from low SES backgrounds, thereby reducing the impact of disadvantage on student outcomes and equipping them with the attributes, knowledge and skills they need to succeed.

If you are part of a regional or rural school and would like to Host an eMentor at your school, click here or contact Dr Audrey Bester, In2science eMentoring Coordinator.

This year, with funding from the Toyota Community Trust, In2science impacted more than 800 secondary school students, building their enthusiasm for STEM and encouraging the pursuit of STEM careers, by placing 37 mentors in six schools in the western suburbs of Melbourne. 

The Toyota Community Trust was established in 2017 to honour the legacy of Toyota car manufacturing in Australia which concluded that year in Altona, Melbourne. The Trust was endowed with $32 million of which the interest every year goes towards STEM education initiatives in the west of Melbourne. 

At the recent In2science Annual Awards ceremony, Toyota Community Trust Board Director, Mr Damien Bayard remarked that In2science stood out to the Board of directors of the Trust as it delivers a three-way benefit –  to high school students, teachers and university students.

In addition to helping In2science extend its reach through more mentor placements in 2019, funding was also used to provide training to mentors, which enabled them to carry out career conversations with small groups of school students in the classroom. Mentors who participated in this pilot reported that facilitating these conversations was something they had always  wanted to do, however they had not had the training or found a mechanism to do it.

Seeking to equip mentors with the toolkit and mechanism to facilitate conversations about STEM careers, In2science selected and trained three mentors to participate in this pilot. Mentors liaised with the classroom teachers to select groups of students to participate and then guided them through a range of activities including:

• reflecting on their interests/skills and understand how science and maths relate to these
• identifying role models in their own life and how science and maths relate to those careers
• identifying study options that relate to their current interests/skills
• identifying the VCE subjects necessary to pursue the above courses
• gaining a clearer picture of jobs, careers and study pathways through ‘Accessing their Allies’, and
• identifying their networks.

The ‘STEM career sessions’ were piloted in Year 7 – 9 classrooms with 17 students (up to eight students per group) at Footscray City College, Laverton P-12 College, Bayside P-12 College. The impact on students’ knowledge and attitudes towards STEM careers was profoundly positive. One year 7 student noted, “I didn’t realise that science skills could be used in almost every job”. Another said, “There are so many more job options available I had never thought of before.” Despite the STEM focus, students also gained an appreciation for the breadth of courses available in higher education with one student quipping, “Wow, you can do arts and dance through university?”

As with all In2science’s STEM outreach activities, the aim is to provide maximum benefit to students, mentors and teachers. This initiative was no exception. Students experienced numerous benefits including: gaining confidence in planning and striving for a STEM-based career, acquiring practical advice on preparing resumes and identifying people within their networks that may be able to provide advice and assistance on career planning.

Mentors were challenged, but ultimately felt empowered to facilitate career discussions and thrived on the deeper connections they build with the students who participated.

Teachers appreciated the mentors’ input into career education and were grateful that mentors were able to introduce these ideas in such an informal and fun way. Importantly, mentors were also able to build upon the discussions about jobs in STEM that had already taken place in the classroom.

The great success of this pilot has encouraged In2science to roll out ‘STEM career sessions’ more broadly across more In2science schools. For more information about ‘STEM career sessions’ or In2science in general, please contact In2science Program Manager, Robyn Gamble.

In2science is grateful for the generous support of Toyota Community Trust.

Imagine if you were faced with a 14-year-old who asked, quite simply, “If you could go back and start university again, would you have done things differently?”. That’s exactly what KBR engineers had to grapple with when they sat down to talk with keen-eyed, enthusiastic high school students and their In2science mentors last month. At first, there was silence. And then, something amazing happened.

Earlier this year, global engineering firm, KBR, who is currently responsible for the removal of a number of railroad crossings in Melbourne, approached In2science because they wanted to be involved in the important work we are doing for high school students across Victoria. This presented an outstanding opportunity for our eMentoring program, as it involves regional students who are often significantly disadvantaged by distance, a lack of role models and a lack of resources.

And so, “Meet An Engineer with In2science” came to be, where early-career engineers could meet with our eMentees and talk about their engineering journeys. After a careful selection of student-mentor groups that we knew would be interested in the opportunities the world of engineering offered, the pilot was ready to launch.

Among the challenges the engineering industry faces, a major one is the lack of female engineers. Currently, women make up approximately 13% of the engineering workforce and only about  16% of students graduating with a university engineering degree are female. This year, Alesha Printz, General Manager, Victoria Division at Engineers Australia told the panel at In2science’s STEM Partnerships Forum that there is a “huge marketing issue for women” when it comes to pursuing a career in engineering. A lack of visible role models is a huge problem across all STEM education and career paths; this pilot afforded the ideal opportunity for female and regional high school students to talk to real engineers.

The brief was simple, get students curious and excited about the diverse world of engineering. Over the course of two weeks, six KBR engineers joined an eMentoring session to let mentors and students glimpse what it’s like to be an engineer. As with many first encounters there was some initial shyness to overcome, but within minutes the awkwardness dissipated, and the stories and questions began to flow.

Relating Minecraft and Lego to bridge building and world-making was a big hit, and students were especially excited when engineers shared projects they were working on because students are not necessarily aware of how many people with specialised skills are needed to construct things in an urban world. One group focused on moving long distances for work and the challenges you face when finishing university in search of employment, while another spent half an hour on the aesthetics of wind turbines and community engagement.

So, if you could go back and start university again, would you have done things differently? Every single session had a question like this one, and in each instance, there was silence at first. Even the mentors were stumped for a few seconds, as the question applied to them as well. It’s a good question. It’s a hard question, and the answer is never simple. However, students were not looking for the correct answer, they were looking for an honest answer, and all the KBR engineers and mentors gave them that. Life journeys change, and almost everyone did not follow the paths they started on at university. However, they all kept doing something that interested them, that made them excited. Each student loved this, and it removed much of the anxiety of choosing the right subjects for VCE or the right university course. It wasn’t about making the right decision for the rest of your life, it was about making a decision that opens doors.

The “Meet An Engineer with In2science” pilot provided high school students with a rare opportunity to speak to professionals on an even playing field and to receive reinforcement that even if life is challenging, if you do something that gets you excited, you are travelling on the right path. More so, our female students could speak to female engineers doing what they loved, showing that engineering is a relevant, attainable and highly desirable career path.

If you are interested in becoming an industry partner with In2science, email In2science Director Dr Alison Every ([email protected])

If you are interested in joining the In2science eMentoring program, Click here!