P&F Program bridges gap left by COVID-19
When the COVID-19 restrictions of 2020 prevented visitors from coming onto St Peters Lutheran College’s Indooroopilly campus, it was far from ‘game over’ for the College’s staff and support groups. Driven to support St Peters students, College groups banded together; they got creative and developed new ways to ensure that St Peters lived up to Challenging Minds, Nurturing Hearts and Building Futures.
The St Peters ‘Find Your Future’ program was one such program that rose from the COVID-19 ashes. When restrictions prevented industry specialists from coming onsite to talk to students about their future study and career options, the Parents & Friends (P&F) group saw an opportunity. With the support of the College’s Careers Centre and the St Peters Old Scholars Association (SPOSA), the P&F developed the concept for the ‘Find Your Future’ program—over the course of the year, the program became a much-appreciated reality.
What is ‘Find Your Future’?
The ‘Find Your Future’ program complements the current St Peters Career Development Program by assisting students in making informed decisions about their future. It offers a series of videos (hosted on the College’s internal communication platform, Firefly) in which industry professionals discuss their careers—what their current role is, how they got there and the skills needed to follow in their footsteps.
‘Find Your Future’ aims to increase student exposure to industry specialists and, in doing so, present them with possible work experience opportunities. The success of the program is dependent on the featured specialist being willing to share their experiences and insights in order to provide students with a richer understanding of different roles and career paths.
The Next Instalment
In 2020, the focus of the ‘Find Your Future’ program was to develop a Q&A library, with at least 20 videos available for students to watch. The videos included insights into areas of Medicine, Allied Health, Teaching, Human Resources, Politics, Marketing & Communications, Film & Television, Logistics, Engineering, Design, Town Planning, Law and Information Technology.
In 2021, the aim is to expand the program. For their next instalment, the P&F hope to focus on developing skills linked to seeking employment (writing a Resume, completing employment applications, interview skills and setting up a LinkedIn profile) and providing work experience opportunities.
To keep track of how these endeavours progress, visit the ‘Find Your Future’ program page on Firefly (St Peters community members, with a St Peters Firefly login, only). If you’d like to get involved with the program, please contact President of the P&F Indooroopilly Campus, Robert Barber.
Sample Video
This is just one of the videos featured in the 'Find Your Future' video library. To watch more, visit the St Peters ‘Find Your Future’ YouTube playlist. Thank you to the St Peters Communications team for their help in producing the ‘Find Your Future’ videos.