Grow Our Own

In its second year, the Grow Our Own Project is an innovative initiative in the region, designed to connect high school students with industry, education, and training sectors.

The program aims to encourage local businesses to invest in local people through employment, training, mentoring and support for sustainability and success.

Our Grow Our Own information sessions showcase career opportunities available to local high school students in their community. These sessions provide insights into various career paths and job prospects and will include industry tours for students to see our industry partners' workplaces in action after this session.

We recently had an incredible Grow Our Own information session at the brand-new Monaro High Performing Arts Centre in Cooma with over 100 students from Jindabyne High, Monaro High, and Bombala High in attendance.

Students learned about a wide range of careers from our diverse group of industry partners in the Snowy Monaro Region, including retail, construction, trades, graphic design, fashion design, IT, ski lift operators, marketing, engineering, mechanics, and rangers, all in their backyard! The career opportunities in this region are endless!

A huge thank you to our industry partners—Perisher Blue, Birdsnest, Snowy Monaro Regional Council, and Snowy Hydro—for sharing how they support traineeships, apprenticeships, upskilling, and fostering a supportive work environment. Your insights were invaluable to our students!

Watch out for the industry tours.

RDASNA’s Role

We are dedicated to working on building a strong, sustainable workforce for the economic development and growth of our region.

Through our partnerships with key stakeholders, we can assist by:

• Coordinating an integrated approach across business, government, education and community

• Building local awareness of local pathways into growth industries

• Increasing alignment between the provision of education and local industry need

• Maintaining a strong education and industry network that is collaborative, progressive, and innovative and responsive to the changing industry needs within our region

Employers

Employers are encouraged to invest in developing local talent through:

• workplace excursions

• traineeship and apprenticeship programs

• work experience, and

• employment opportunities. 

We will support the process through our partnerships with local employment service providers, education and training institutions.

Goulburn and Snowy Monaro Industry Partners

Students

In conjunction with schools, groups of students are taken to local businesses and educational institutions to learn about careers and career pathways that are available to them locally. 

Excursions are designed to be fun and interactive, showing students options for local study and work once they have completed secondary school.

The aim of these sessions is to encourage local high students to start considering:

• Career opportunities in the local area

• Remaining in the region

• Encouraging local businesses to invest in the employment, training, mentoring, and development of local people

• Promote workforce expansion, development, and sustainability

We had an amazing turnout at our Goulburn Grow Our Own information session recently, with over 120 high school students from Trinity College, Goulburn, and Mulwaree High attending.

Joined by our industry partners, Goulburn Mulwaree Council, Gunlake Quarries, Tribe Breweries, and Marulan Truck and Bus, the students learned about the various career opportunities available right in their backyard. They learned about future apprenticeships, traineeships, and various careers from our industry experts.

One of the day's highlights was the discussion panel hosted by Danae Vitnell, Economic Development Manager at GMC. Danae engaged with our inspiring young adults, who are making strides in their careers in Goulburn and are former local high school students themselves! The event sparked lively discussions on the bus rides back to school, marking a successful and inspiring day for everyone involved.

Participating Goulburn and Snowy Monaro High Schools

For more information or to participate in the program, please email us at workforce@rdasna.org.au.