From budding marine biologists to aspiring naval architects, 16 young South Australians are this week (Monday 27 June – Friday 1 July) diving into their future careers with a fully-funded maritime immersion experience spanning two states.
The year 11 and 12 students have been selected for a five-day Maritime Immersion Camp to explore career opportunities including engineering, naval architecture and trades in the maritime sector.
The learning adventure includes fully funded travel to Tasmania to explore the Australian Maritime College (AMC), the national institute for maritime education, training and research at the University of Tasmania.
The camp features a visit to the world-class testing facility Line Zero at the Tonsley Innovation Precinct, a deep dive into courses at Flinders University and a tour of Adelaide’s leading-edge Osborne Naval Shipyard where BAE Systems Australia is constructing nine Hunter Class frigates and ASC is sustaining the Collins Class submarines.
There, students will also meet professionals working in naval shipbuilding and learn about the free one-to-one career support offered to young people via the Naval Shipbuilding College, an Australian Government initiative.
The program is supported by the South Australian Department for Education, Le Fevre High School, the Australian Maritime College (AMC) and the Naval Shipbuilding College (NSC).
“Maritime is such an exciting sector with huge opportunities and thousands of jobs on horizon,” said Liam Narcys, the Assistant Principal of Maritime & Career Development, and Senior School, at Le Fevre High School.
“This camp is an amazing opportunity to bring students together who have a strong maritime interest and showcase the many career pathways they can take to follow their passions.”
NSC program director Mike Humphreys said he was impressed by the high calibre of applications.
“The students demonstrated a powerful desire to establish their careers in maritime and naval shipbuilding and, pleasingly, also illustrated an impressive dedication to gaining aligned experiences while they are still at school. This will really help them stand out to future employers,” Mr Humphreys said.
The packing list for the students, who hail from metro Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Kangaroo Island, even includes swimwear - to enable the students to develop their survival skills with a pool-based simulation exercise at the AMC and learn, just as students at the university do, hands-on about maritime subjects including Shipboard Safety.
“We have a great line up of activities for the students including learning about vessel design and operations and we’re excited to introduce them to our students and staff here at the AMC,” said Michael van Balen, AMC Principal.
The AMC boasts facilities unique within Australia, including a facility to test submerged structures such as submarines and ship hulls to examine water flows, and a Maritime Simulation Centre fitted with real-time simulation technology for operating vessels.
The facilities include a 100-metre-long towing tank and model test basin, which are in demand for modelling experiments and observing how model-scale vessels react in different conditions.
The 16 students were selected for Maritime Immersion Week through a competitive application process.
