Youth - HESS
Youth Service
Honeywell Engineering Summer School (HESS)
HESS is an Engineers Australia Sydney Division initiative supported by Honeywell, NSW ‘Engineering’ Universities and participating Rotary Districts, and this year was hosted by the University of NSW. The principal aim of HESS is to give NSW and ACT high school students a better understanding of what engineering is and how it works in everyday life, as well as the ability to visit engineering universities to aid in their selection of university.
The Australian National Engineering Taskforce (ANET), of which Engineers Australia is a member, reported that “Australia produces 6000 graduates annually, which is half of our annual workforce needs.” The Summer School is a resource to ensure that young people have engineering in the forefront of their minds when looking at career options
The 2013 Honeywell Engineering Summer School brought together 100 Year 11 students from across NSW and ACT. 80% of the students were from regional areas and half of the students were funded or partly funded by local Rotaries and High Schools. The students were accommodated at Dunmore Lange College, North Ryde, and mentored for the week by live-in houseparents, themselves Engineering students from the host university – University of NSW who also facilitated the Farewell Dinner at Coogee Diggers during the week.
Throughout the week-long program the Summer School students met and interacted with professional engineers from a wide range of engineering backgrounds; which additionally provided the students with valuable insight into career opportunities available to women and men in engineering. Their visits to participating engineering companies provided the students with the rare opportunity to gain first-hand experience in regard to the role of professional engineers and provided them with the opportunity to understand the role of engineers in society and the variety of engineering disciplines.
The students attended lectures and hands on demonstrations at the University of NSW (Host University); University of Technology, Sydney; University of Sydney; University of Western Sydney; Macquarie University; and the University of Wollongong.
Site visits included Honeywell; Weir Minerals, RAAF Base, ANSTO, BlueScope Steel, Barangaroo and WesTrac.