A legacy program has exposed more than 1000 south-west students to possible future careers this year and hopes to expand in 2023.
The Neil Porter Legacy (NPL) shows students the vast career opportunities available in the south-west region across all industries, including food and fibre.
The program is in honour of Neil Porter, a Brauer College teacher who died in 2018 after encouraging his students to pursue a career based on their interests while recognising the benefits of industry and schools working together.
DemoDAIRY foundation will continue to support NPL in 2023, including running the Maths & Science @ Work program with secondary schools in the south-west region, running career education activities with rural schools, and supporting students to complete work experience in agriculture.
In a report presented to the DemoDAIRY Foundation annual meeting, Neil’s son Matt said 1054 students from 14 schools have been involved in NPL programs during the year. There were 183 business engagements with students and 3184 hours of individual career education and experiences delivered.
The Maths & Science @ Work program was a big success in August when 14 industry presenters ran workshops for about 100 Year 7 and 8 students from Timboon P-12 School, Terang College and Cobden Technical School.
During 2022 several rural schools were involved in tours, industry visits, hands-on activities and mock job interviews.
Among many career education programs run across all industries, the NPL exposed many Warrnambool students to dairy and agriculture careers.
“In 2023 we hope to be able to expand and run our programs more often, in more schools,” Mr Porter said. “Dairy and agriculture will always be a part of our programs as they are large industries with great opportunities for young people,” he added.
Mr Porter said it was hoped more agricultural work experience programs could be created in 2023.
DemoDAIRY Foundation chair Andrea Vallance said the Foundation was keen to continue supporting NPL and any program that introduced students to the variety of career options in agriculture.