At 6.00am on Sunday 15 August, a group of bleary-eyed but excited VET Agriculture students left Mount Lilydale Mercy College for a two-day tour of future learning and industry destinations. The early start, a character test of sorts, saw the cohort — supported by our wonderful Assistant Business Manager Mrs Cathy Pote — arrive at Longerenong College in the Wimmera by 11.30am for two days of excitement, learning and opportunity.
The tour of both of the remaining original Victorian Agriculture Colleges established in 1889, Longerenong and Dookie, allowed students to explore a range of future pathways both within TAFE and university and make connections with their current studies. The long drive to Longerenong allowed plenty of time to establish a camaraderie and spirit that only strengthened throughout the trip. Agriculture students, it turns out, are great at trivia, love karaoke and accept everyone for who they are, as long as they can pull a calf and drive a tractor. On arrival, we explored the wool classing centre, the smart farm hub and enjoyed tours of the oldest continual trial site in the southern hemisphere.
Later that afternoon, students continued the journey to Dookie, near Shepparton (another four and a half hours of driving). They stayed overnight in student dorms built in the early 1900s at Dookie Agricultural College. Here they toured state of the art Science labs, a robotic dairy where cows choose to milk themselves, discovered new technology in fertiliser application and water management and toured the oldest sauvignon blanc planting in Victoria.
One of the guides for the day was Old Collegian Molly Henderson (Class of 2019), who is now a final-year Batchelor of Agriculture student. Molly gave the students a great insight into the possibilities and opportunities of a career in food production. She also gave our students an insight into the rich social life of a residential Agriculture student.
Agriculture is a rich, diverse and exciting career pathway open to students with a wide range of career pathways, from banking and finance to managing factories, commodity trading to driving tractors or headers. Our students were thrilled to find out about the amazing and diverse range of possibilities that are open to them.
Sophie Morris (Year 11 Jade) shares her experience of the camp:
I cannot thank the staff enough for giving up their time, effort and sanity to take us to Longerenong and Dookie. Not only did we have a great time on the ‘party bus’ with a bunch of awesome students, but the Colleges went above and beyond to give us some real insight into our futures. Agriculture gives people amazing opportunities. Having the chance to talk to lecturers, physically seeing the facilities on the campuses and being able to talk to current students gave us some genuine insight into university life and a helpful foundation to base our future choices off. Without this camp I would have struggled to receive such genuine and helpful guidance. I admire the teachers’ ability to transfer their strong passions to us. We appreciate all the work and behind the scenes effort that goes unrecognised in delivering a program like this.
