Australian Financial Review: Helping western Sydney girls and women overcome stereotypes for a STEM career
A special feature in The Australian Financial Review today highlighted the important work being done in Western Sydney including our very own STEM programs for high school girls and executive women.
Sixteen-year-old Rivaa Thite, from Western Sydney, has set her sights on a career as a fighter pilot and aeronautical engineer with the Australian armed forces.
She was a mentee in our 2022 The Future is Bright in Aviation program as well as a participant in our recent STEM & Trades Bootcamp in partnership with Endeavour Energy (NSW).
“I did a STEM boot camp and an aviation workshop,” she says, adding she found the boot camp helpful – she now understands what electrical engineers do and how people program drones. “There are lots of jobs out there I didn’t know existed.”
Featured in the article are photos from our programs, with a photo of Madeline Wu, a mentor and previously a mentee in our programs, demonstrating the use of drone technology to attendees of an experience day held at Powerhouse. In the second photo, Rivaa is shown co-piloting an aircraft with SFC Australia as part of our program.
Olivia Mirza was a mentor in our Western Sydney Executive Women in STEM program and Janhavi Shinde was a mentee in our NSW Mentoring Women in Aviation program.
“We wanted to give all girls in Western Sydney the access, the resources, the encouragement and the hands-on experience to build their confidence,” says WSW founder Amanda Rose, Founder, CEO, Speaker.
“I grew up in Western Sydney and I wasn’t given the same opportunities; it wasn’t considered you might be interested,” she says. “I loved physics and chemistry, it was never discussed or considered that I could do any engineering or anything like that.”
In 2022 and 2023 our STEM initiatives have included:
The Future is Bright in STEM & Trades Bootcamps powered by Endeavour Energy
The Future is Bright in STEM program
The Future is Bright in Aviation program
Mentoring Women in Aviation programs in NSW, QLD and VIC
Western Sydney Executive Women in STEM program
Ladies Who Lead in Aviation program
It’s the support of our partners and sponsors that make it possible for us to facilitate these opportunities for women in STEM. We want to acknowledge and thank the Australian Government Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, the Australian Government Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Endeavour Energy, Western Sydney International Airport, KPMG Australia and Multiplex.