NHS Year 10 students enjoy a week at work experience

Many Narrabri High School students recently took on the long-awaited annual work experience.

Students travelled all over Narrabri to get a feel for what jobs they might be interested in and what their future has in store for them.

My name is Tom Ryan, and I did my work experience at Narrabri’s local newspaper, The Courier.

I took on the task of going around and interviewing other students out in the work force.

I did this by ringing the businesses where other students were working and setting up times to visit, take photos and interview my fellow peers.

First up is Paige Hetherington, a fellow Narrabri High School student who was working for Amy Cathcart, the owner of local award-winning hair salon AC Studios.

AC Studios was named winner at the Narrabri Chamber of Commerce Whitehaven Coal Business Awards event earlier this year for Home Based Businesses 2022.

Paige thoroughly enjoyed her work with Amy, and said that she would pursue a job down this path.

Paige could not stress enough how good of a teacher Amy was.

“She has taught me a handful of things, including how to cut and braid hair,” Paige said.

Paige summed up the interview by saying she was glad she chose such an interesting job for work experience, and she really liked it there.

Katlin Barnes spent the week at the Allpets Veterinary Clinic under the eyes of Stacey Dunn and Vicki Allan.

Kaitlin said the job was a lot more laid back than she had expected and the ladies there were “super nice and courteous”.

Watching a dog get de-sexed was one of the hardest experiences of the week for Kaitlin, but she said that the abundance of cute puppies made up for it.

She added that she has always had an interest in animals and wanting to help them, so the work experience week was the perfect time to give it a try. She had no regrets as she enjoyed it.

Fellow students Baylee Kelly, Bridie Russell and Meika Foley all travelled to Narrabri West Public School for their work experience week.

These girls all went to the school as students, and all had a great time as they reminisced in old activities.

The girls explained that the students and teachers had all been nice and welcoming, even teaching the girls a special dance.

Baylee was lucky enough to judge an extravagant tap dance performance and said it was “one of a kind”.

She was not the only one to luck out though, as Bridie and Meika had the privilege of watching Year 2 students perform their dance for presentation night.

These three had an absolute blast at NWPS, but all admitted that they don’t think they could deal with the stress of being a teacher full time.

Clare Jensen thoroughly enjoyed her week alongside Mel Manchee and Jodi Cameron at the office of Roy Butler MP – Member for Barwon.

Clare vocalised her interest for a similar job in the future and stated that the ladies she worked alongside were “nothing but nice and helpful,” leaving a great first impression for Clare.

She threw herself in the deep end on this one, picking this job with no prior knowledge, and she enjoyed it so much she said “even though its free work I’d do it again”.

Clare is excited to get back to school so she can start her nursing school-based traineeship next year.

Jayde Arnold spent the week at Max Orman Toyota and said that he was absolutely in love with that sort of work.

He added he would love a career down that path and that working on cars all week had been a dream come true.

Jayde was involved in some heavy-lifting duties and is now confident that his strength is improving.

“This week, I have learnt so many new things that school is not capable of teaching me,” he said.

Jayde said that he was keen to leave school and take up the offer of any mechanic job that comes his way.

Oscar George enjoyed working for Stoltenberg Flooring Xtra during the work experience week.

Oscar has a history of building, working alongside his dad, and has enjoyed learning a new trade alongside a “great bunch of blokes”.

Oscar disclosed that he would consider a job in this career as “you get good pay and people always need a carpenter”.

Oscar thought the men he worked with had taught him many valuable lessons in the workforce, for example showing respect to each other and not messing around, just getting in and get the job done.

Baxter Capp was taken under the wing by North West Electrical Plumbing & Gas Fitting, a group of guys Baxter described as light-hearted but hard-working men.

Baxter enjoyed the fact that “the boys just get in and get the job done” as this “makes it easier and takes less time”.

Plumbing was not Baxter’s first choice for work experience, but he is now in love with it, claiming “I think I might drop out and do it”, although the lunch time at 1pm had his belly rumbling.

Brock Gordon enjoyed his week working with Josh Gleeson at J W Gleeson Electrical.

Brock wanted to get a feel of what work was like in this trade, and said that he was happy he now had an understanding for this skill under his belt.

Brock enjoyed the variety of jobs and getting out and about with hands-
on work. He said that without a doubt, safety was the most important thing he learnt during the week.

“Josh (Gleeson) and Cody (Shepherdson) are incredible teachers and a big help, showing me what to do and how it is done safely,” he said.

Brock has always been interested in this trade more than the rest, so when the time came, electrician was his first pick.

He added that anyone wanting to learn this trade should definitely do it as it is a “pretty handy trade to have, especially if you are young and looking for work”.