By Susana Tomaz
TIC STEAM
The future of work is becoming increasingly more difficult to accurately predict or even imagine. The speed of change also calls for an updated skillset, calling for workers to quickly adapt, to learn new approaches to challenges, to think more critically, and to collaborate.
The report, Preparing tomorrow’s workforce for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. For business: A framework for action calls on the business community to take a more proactive role in preparing today’s youth to ensure they are ready to become the workforce of tomorrow.
Enterprise STEAM (ESTEAM) provides students with the opportunity to adopt an innovative mindset, develop 21st century skills, including financial capabilities, business and entrepreneurship skills while continuing exploring the integration of STEAM applications. To support your growth and development in the ESTEAM field students benefit from the support of members of our business community to provide authentic, relevant and interactive experiences for students to learn about the workforce and raise awareness of emerging careers pathways.
On Friday 11 December we took our ESTEAM students to Genesis Energy New Zealand’s largest energy retailer and Deloitte for an internship with a strong focus on sustainability, cybersecurity and career pathways. We would like to say a big thank you to the amazing team of professionals at both Genesis Energy and Deloitte New Zealand for their time and commitment to address the youth skills gap, and develop the workforce of the future.
We welcome the support of our business/parent community, check out of STEAM Power-ED Flyer for ideas on how you can support our students, please email me, let’s connect: [email protected]
Here is some feedback from our students:
The opportunity to take part in an internship run by Deloitte was one of the best parts about ESTEAM last year! I didn’t feel out of place as they treated us like capable students and I was thoroughly engaged in their interactive activities. I gained more knowledge about cybersecurity, softwares like ‘Wireshark’, and systems like ‘Linux’. Additionally, I learnt how to keep my data protected from malicious attacks and about the types of hackers there are – ethical hackers and government hackers being a couple of them. It was all very exciting to be a part of! The team were really interested and excited to hear about our input – encouraging us and making the whole experience even more amazing than it already was – can’t forget the delightful food they served us. Wouldn’t have been possible without the lovely Ms Tomaz and the wonderful team at Deloitte, so a huge thank you for this experience!
Peeta Khan
Renewable energy, engineering, and inspiring females in STEAM! That is what Genesis is all about! I was truly inspired and engaged by the wonderful speakers and the tour of the sustainable building Genesis is located in. In times like this, it is powerful that we all stay open-minded to new ideas and ways of living such as moving towards solar, hydro, and wind energy sources and encouraging more females to partake in STEAM. Genesis showed us Westlake girls how diversity influences a workplace to become stronger, resilient, and profoundly new. I am super passionate about sciences and the environment so Genesis is definitely the type of company I would work for in the future.
Shella Dabbach
“The internship at Genesis was such a fun day! I really loved learning about the diverse roles, being a female in those areas and getting a behind the scenes look into the company. Such a neat opportunity that I am so thankful for as we begin looking for future potential careers.”
Charis Allison