By Ann Marie Angebrandt
MORE than 5000 students from Wyndham and Hobsons Bay will descend on Hoppers Crossing next month to get information about life after secondary school.
The ninth annual Werribee River Careers Association (WRICA) expo will bring together more than 60 exhibitors, ranging from universities to the army.
All want to give students in years 10, 11 and 12 as much information as possible about their future once they finish secondary school.
It might be more study or training, or straight into the world of paid employment.
WRICA president Peter Krausz said he saw a need for the expo back in 1998, in his role as a careers’ counsellor at the Grange College.
“There was really nothing like it in the West,” he said.
“We wanted to get students to really start thinking carefully about their future,” he said.
The expo is now the biggest careers expo in the West and the third largest in Victoria.
Students from every secondary school across the two municipalities are taken by bus to the event, returning with armloads of brochures and heads filled with ideas.
Mr Krausz said members of the wider community were also welcome to come along.
“Sometimes people want to get ideas about returning to study or a career change,” he said.
Students are accompanied by their teachers, but sometimes parents come along as well.
Year 12 students will attend seminars about coping with the transition from secondary school.
Interactive exhibits range from hairdressing displays to model car demonstrations.
The event is sponsored by Victoria University, as well as the city councils from Wyndham and, for the first time this year, Hobsons Bay.
“We can now stretch it out over two days instead of trying to get everything done in one day,” said Mr Krausz.
The expo will be held on Thursday 11 May and Friday 12 May in the Wyndham Leisure and Events Centre, Derrimut Rd, Hoppers Crossing.
All are welcome to the free event.
