STUDENTS at Euroa Secondary College had the unique opportunity to fly the skies of Sydney in an Army helicopter among other virtual reality (VR) training exercises when the Australian Army visited the school on Friday, 28 February.
Unlike typical recruitment drives intended to foment a career path based on enthusiasm alone, this visit was part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) STEM initiative, where students are given hands-on opportunities to experience the use of science in defence.
“Our program is all designed to try and encourage kids to stick with STEM classes that they're already doing,” Major David McEvoy said.
STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) is a coverall concept recognised by science academics for almost a quarter of a century as being a basis for revitalising careers and advancement in the sciences.
Secondary students following a STEM path can be expected to study mathematics, coding, computer science, physics, and maybe chemistry to build a solid engineering foundation.
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Major McEvoy said the visit to the college was to show the more engaging side of STEM.
“Just to show them that it's fun,” he said.
“And then obviously the second part of it is hopefully they'll consider careers in the ADF doing a STEM role.”
Two of those students were Danny Williams and Ethan Henson who are both aspiring to careers in the military.
Danny said his father’s former career in the Air Force had been a driving factor in his own decision making, particularly as his father always came home with exciting stories.
“So, he has kind of inspired me to join the Air Force as well,” Danny said.
“He’s a smart guy, so I aspire to be like him.
“Also, although I'm not super certain about what I want to do in the future, I feel like the military's a good basis, a good starting point to figure it out from there.”
Ethan Henson said he had gone from having ‘really no idea’ of what he wanted to do in his future to being interested in taking up a gap year in the ADF.
“I heard about what it offers,” Ethan said.
“The pay, all of that stuff, what you can do, what jobs you can do.”
Ethan made a pact with Danny and a third fellow student that they would all apply for the Air Force together.
“And do the training together, and then see where it goes from there.
“After the gap year, we were going to take another year just to travel with that money.
“But then I definitely might stay, to be honest,” he said.
“Maybe rejoin.”
Also on offer to the students was a lesson on the theory of flight and other VR experiences with an artillery gun line and a HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) launch.
Major McEvoy said the response from the students to the VR experience was enthusiastic.
“They loved it, absolutely loved it, which is great,” he said.
Major McEvoy said genuine aspirants did not need to be pointed out from among the students.
“Usually, they identify themselves pretty quickly,” he said.
“They'll normally come over here and start asking specific questions, and that's a pretty good indicator that they've already got an interest in defence."
Major McEvoy spoke to the students about studying for a degree at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) either straight from school or after a gap year in which they join the ADF for 12 months.
His focus was on the students studying the right subjects beforehand.
“There are so many careers in STEM now, it's just incredible,” he said.
“Whether it's communications or flying or whatever.
“But amazingly enough, what I find is, and we found it definitely yesterday as well as today, a couple of the kids who hadn't thought about a defence career at all and then said ‘what, I can go to university, and I don't have to pay HECS?’
“‘I get paid a salary and I get a degree at the end of it - that sounds fantastic for me’.”
Major McEvoy described the ‘shock-horror’ of parents getting on board with the idea as well.
“It’s a lot cheaper for Mum and Dad,” he said.
“The kids get a great education, and they get paid at the same time.
“And then a career waiting for them.
“We can definitely make a promise that no other university can, and that’s a guaranteed career at the end of it.
“You'll hear the universities talk about they've got an 85 or a 90 per cent employment rate, blah, blah, blah.
“Ours is 100 per cent - every single student that graduates out of ADFA automatically goes straight into the Defence Force in a role, whatever it is they've been training to do.”
