High School Outreach

So, what's HSO?

'EWB envisions a transformed Australia where appropriate and sustainable technology is at the forefront of every engineer’s mind. We also perceive a conscious and concerned Australia that is a leader in the fight against poverty and an advocate for the rights of all people around the world.'
-Excerpt taken from EWB's vision.

High School Outreach is a program, one of several developed by EWB to acheive it's vision of a transformed Australia. It involves having volunteers, typically from university levels going out and teaching high school students about social justice and the place of engineering and technology in delivering social justice.

Currently, our volunteers use pre-made PowerPoint presentations to deliver up to 6 different presentations covering Climate Change and Water issues in our global society. Each powerpoint presentation is accompanied by an activity which engages the students in enjoyable and creative ways, and takes a little less than an hour to complete, thus being perfectly adaptable to most classroom envioments.

Presentations are given in pairs or threes, which challenges our volunteers not only to enage students on a public speaking level, but also to work together as a team. All presentations are organised and co-ordinated by the HSO Co-ordinator. At EWB, we stress the importance of community, therefore we aim to always provide ample support for our volunteers.

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Community Feedback

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HSO Outcomes: What's in it for students, What's in it for me?

Outcomes for High School Students.

Our success is vividly seen when talking to High School Students. Through HSO presentations and activities , students gain better understanding of social justice and sustainability issues. This gives them the ability to see it in a big picture and be more aware of the issues currently faced in the world.

HSO presentations and activities also provide students with a deeper understanding of engineering as a profession. Therefore, our modules are especially invaluable learning for those who are considering Engineering as a degree in University.

To hear about some student experiences, click here.

Outcomes for Volunteers

We make it our mission to make sure our volunteers always have smiles on their faces. This is because for volunteers, HSO is meant to be an enjoyable means to gain skills in public speaking and communication. 

Volunteers are given the opportunity to deal with different sized groups, from a handful of students to a full-sized class. This allows our volunteers to build sound soft skills and confidence in their abilities. 

We have found marked improvement in the quality of all our presenters in just a few presentations.
Once a semester we also hold a workshop allowing HSO people to increase their skills. This is administered by our best HSO volunteers, so the newer volunteers can take advantage of expert advice and skills.
To hear what what some of our volunteers have had to say about their experiences click here.

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How you can get involved!

For every presentation that occurs, the HSO Co-ordinator will send out an email containing information about HSO to everyone who's on the HSO emailing list, allowing them to choose which presentations they would like to do, based on convenience and preference. By joining the email list, you are not committing to HSO, you are just keeping yourself informed of every possible presentation. To join the mailing list, mail the       HSO Co-ordinator (below).

To get involved with the HSO team at UWA, email the UWA-HSO Co-ordinators:

Zara Yap: 20756229@student.uwa.edu.au
Paul Otto: 20774132@student.uwa.edu.au

To get involved generally within the UWA Chapter, email the EWB-UWA Team:
ewb.uwa@gmail.com
 

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