Work experience at BCG

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BCG regularly hosts local, interstate and international students interested in agricultural research ranging from work experience secondary school students to graduate and post graduate university students.

In the week leading up to Trials Review Day, one of BCG’s two annual flagship events, BCG hosted three students. It was definitely a busy week at BCG that offered a variety of activities for work experience students Dana and Kelsey, year 11 students at Birchip P-12, as well as Aaron, University of Melbourne Bachelor of Agriculture student.

Dana and Kelsey spent their week undertaking a variety of tasks, including learning about and assisting with various tasks in the lab, sitting in on Trials Review Day presenter practices and helping to set up, put the finishing touches on and attend Trials Review Day.

Aaron, who spent two weeks with us in total, undertook many similar tasks to Dana and Kelsey, as well as having the opportunity to spend some time with the research team out in the paddock.

Kelsey told us that she was interested in agricultural research, so we planned for her to spend a few days in the lab analyzing samples and getting a feel for the life of an agricultural researcher. “Some people think that doing work experience in town is pointless” said Kelsey at the end of the week, “but sometimes we forget how rewarding it is to work with great people like those at BCG. It’s a real family and everyone makes you feel welcome and valued.”

Dana, with an interest in admin, spent her week experiencing the variety of work undertaken across BCG, spending time with the research team, the extension and communications team as well as the admin team. At the end of the week she said “It’s been great working with BCG. All the staff have been lovely. We’ve had a couple of birthdays this week and I’ve been really impressed with the staff comradery.”

Aaron, who came to BCG for work experience as part of his AgriFutures Horizons Scholarship, said that he “had a great two weeks with the crew at BCG. There is a great team environment and they are doing very interesting and relevant research and extension. This experience definitely strengthened my interest in doing research in the future.”

BCG Operations Leader, Kelly Angel, said that “it’s really important for us to host work experience students and show them what we do here at BCG. It’s a great opportunity to show these students and the wider community just some of the range of opportunities available in rural areas that they may not expect.”

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