“The power of collaboration to accelerate young talent.“
Of the 63,000 students that received a High School Certificate in 2021, 3,347 of them undertook Design and Technology as a subject in their HSC year. That’s a little over 5% of all students.
Considering the amount of courses on offer for HSC students, that’s certainly not a low enrolment however it’s not unreasonable to say it could be higher when we note that 10% of students did Ancient History.
Now, that’s not to say that Ancient History isn’t a valuable subject, but from a company that values critical thinkers and problem solvers in their workforce, the skills that are learnt through studying Design & Technology are often a foundation of these characteristics.
Design & Technology students, in completing their Major Design Projects, are developing particular skills that aren’t learnt within any other line of study and are highly regarded by all sorts of employers, well beyond just design and manufacturing companies.
In essence, the objective of D&T students’ MDP’s is to identify and solve a particular problem. Similarly, every successful business exists because it identified and solved a particular problem, regardless of how obvious that problem is. The process that students go through to identify a problem, design a solution, iterate on it and execute it is something we do every day at Black Lab Design.
That is why when Brigidine College D&T teacher Richard Hainsworth introduced Black Lab to the Uprising Young Designers program we were excited to see how we could help.Â
Black Lab’s involvement with the program has progressed over the year. We have provided feedback and advice to students on their MDP’s which is facilitated by the Uprising program’s creation of a direct link between students and industry.Â
Wanting to assist beyond just consultation, we decided to offer a ‘design and manufacturing’ experience to students whose projects had particularly stood out to us and were aligned with the types of projects we typically deliver.
Yesterday the two students spent the day at Black Lab Design, accompanied by Richard Hainsworth to give them a unique insight into our operations and processes. It could be described as a mini-internship.
The students, from Brigidine College and Hunter Valley Grammar School, were given a tour of the Black Lab Design facility where they saw some of our machines and team in action and checked out a few current product prototypes and finished projects.
They also got the chance to observe a new project moving through design, programming, cutting, folding and fabrication which was something they wouldn’t otherwise get the chance to see. To round out the day the students had a sit down with one of our designers where we conducted a mock pitch of their MDP ideas allowing our designer to provide feedback and some valued advice on how they could move forward within their respective careers.
Providing the student’s an opportunity like this takes very little effort from a business like ours, but the value to the student, as they progress from school into tertiary studies, has the potential to be significant. A major issue that has been identified by Uprising’s founder, Richard Hainsworth, is that it can often be difficult for students to envision a career pathway from the learnings they gain within the Design & Technology course, even if it’s a subject an individual student excels in. That’s why the Uprising initiative is such a beneficial program to students and industry alike.Â
Following the visit yesterday, Richard said; “The two young designers were great ambassadors for their schools and capabilities of our next Gen designers.
An amazing experience to see design & industry in action and hear directly from industry of the importance of design thinking in creating sustainable and quality solutions to a huge range of clients.
UpRising is so grateful for Black Lab Design… an invaluable experience in showcasing the power of collaboration to accelerate young talent.
