As Australia’s largest rail freight operator, Aurizon is helping to engage young people in careers working with drone technology and robotics by supporting local Hunter Valley charity, Youth Express.

The Aurizon Community Giving Fund provided Youth Express with a grant in June 2018 to facilitate drone camps across the Newcastle and Hunter region.

These camps are run through the Youth Express STEAM Shack, which was initiated by the Australian Government Building our Future Fund. This Shack a mobile resource unit that helps to bring drone robotics and virtual equipment to school and community events aimed at encouraging and inspiring young people to build these skills for the future.

These camps are hosted by trained Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) professionals who talk about the drone industry, possible career pathways, safety protocols and how to safely pilot (unmanned aerial vehicles) UAVs.

The Aurizon Drone Girl’s Camp aims to engage young women with technology-based subjects and careers to showcase the increasing use of drones in and the exciting possibilities they bring to various industries.

“I think the Aurizon Drone Girl’s Camp provides girls with a unique educational opportunity to develop their collaboration and teamwork skills, their problem-exploring and problem-solving skills, as well as learning the value of failing,” said Anne-Marie Kelly, Learning Technology Coordinator at San Clemente.

“Drones are used in all industries from accounting through to zoology and everything in between.

“Learning how to not only pilot a drone but how to code, collect data and analyse that data for ethical usage in order to solve real-life challenges is an amazing learning experience for our students and offers an insight into exciting careers pathways for our girls.”

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