#MySTEMstory

Hey Erin! It's me!

Hi Jacqueline, it's me!

00:00

[Music]

00:05

Hi Mary

00:06

it's me, future Mary. Right now I'm

00:10

imagining that you are

00:11

probably either out riding a horse

00:13

somewhere maybe up at the hardest

00:15

pony club

00:16

or you've got your nose deep in a book

00:18

good news is

00:20

not much has changed on either of those

00:21

fronts you still love horses

00:23

and you are still reading everything

00:26

in sight

00:27

right now my job is a senior lecturer in

00:30

biomedical science

00:32

which i know sounds really fancy

00:34

basically what it means is i work at a

00:36

university

00:37

and i teach science and i also get to do

00:39

research

00:40

and my research is about understanding

00:42

more about the human body

00:44

and how it works. Look i know right now

00:48

you do have kind of an idea of what you

00:50

want to do

00:51

when you grow up but i want to tell you

00:53

that

00:54

there are just so many more options for

00:57

you in science

00:58

than you might realize right now being a

01:00

vet

01:01

being a doctor being a forensic

01:03

scientist

01:04

those are all amazing jobs and things

01:06

that i know you're really interested in

01:09

but science is so so much more than just

01:12

those few things that you might have

01:13

seen around

01:14

a small country town what i'd love you

01:17

to do

01:17

is keep your eyes and your ears open

01:20

keep exploring

01:21

stay really curious and i promise you

01:24

that if you do that

01:26

eventually you are going to find that

01:28

one thing that you really love

01:30

and uh spoiler alert it's genetics

01:35

i know the idea of finishing school and

01:37

heading off to university is like

01:40

really daunting of course it is you're

01:42

the first one in your family to do this

01:45

and that's really hard even though

01:47

they're really supportive

01:48

they don't really have so much idea of

01:50

what it's like to study at university

01:53

the good thing is that you know even

01:56

though you have to leave

01:57

your home and your family and your

01:58

friends when you go to university you

02:01

are going to

02:02

meet so many really amazing people make

02:05

so many new friends

02:07

even a husband you're gonna learn more

02:09

than you ever thought you

02:11

that you could more than you ever

02:12

imagined and

02:14

you're also gonna really fall in love

02:15

with science more than you probably

02:17

thought you would

02:19

i know right now that you are pretty shy

02:22

you sometimes tend to hold yourself back

02:23

a bit

02:24

but i also know that you are stubborn

02:27

you are

02:27

determined you are fiercely independent

02:31

and these things are going to serve you

02:33

so so well on your journey

02:36

but i do want you to remember if you can

02:38

that it's okay to ask for help

02:39

and for advice you're gonna meet so many

02:42

great people who are

02:44

really willing to to mentor you and to

02:46

give you advice

02:47

and to open doors for you so kind of be

02:50

open to those possibilities if you can

02:53

you're especially going to meet a huge

02:55

number of the most amazing

02:56

women scientists who really just get

02:59

you know what it's like to to be a

03:02

scientist in the journey that you've

03:03

taken

03:05

i want you to know that choosing science

03:07

has really been the right choice for us

03:10

you have a really challenging and

03:12

interesting job

03:13

you have met amazing people and science

03:16

has even taken you

03:17

all over the world you even get to go to

03:19

Antarctica

03:20

because you have chosen to become a

03:22

scientist

03:24

i'm not going to promise you that it's

03:25

all going to be super easy and it's all

03:27

going to be roses

03:28

but i can tell you that there are so

03:31

many

03:32

scientists you know people just like me

03:35

who

03:35

are out there you know waiting to help

03:38

you

03:39

waiting to cheer you on so what are you

03:41

waiting for

03:43

come and join us

03:49

[Music]

03:58

wow

04:00

[Music]

04:15

you

00:00

[Music]

00:05

hi renee

00:06

it's me your future self if i have to

00:09

guess right now you're

00:10

sitting on the couch doing your homework

00:12

whilst also catching up on the latest

00:14

crime and medical dramas yes vomit is a

00:17

great studying mechanism

00:18

i can prove it now well if you can tear

00:21

yourself away i hope you get out for a

00:22

boogie board down at jenny beach

00:24

i remember sometimes we get down to the

00:26

beach twice some days

00:27

the magic of cox harbour is living only

00:29

a 10-minute drive from the water

00:32

while some things have changed some

00:34

definitely happened you've been living

00:35

in sydney for 10 years now

00:37

and while sydney has okay beaches it's

00:39

an hour on the bus to any of them so get

00:41

out to the beach while you still can

00:43

what hasn't changed is you're still a

00:45

huge nerd

00:46

in fact you've accomplished your dream

00:48

of becoming a professional nerd

00:50

but not how you might expect so you're

00:53

probably wondering what you do then

00:55

well you're a software engineer at a

00:57

company called drop learning where they

00:58

teach kids to code online

01:00

you're also the national director of the

01:02

girls programming network

01:04

that's right you're a coder that codes

01:05

in order to teach girls to code

01:08

that probably doesn't make a lot of

01:09

sense to you right now especially since

01:11

you don't know what coding is

01:13

you're 15 at the moment so your current

01:16

understanding of coding is the double

01:18

hacking you saw on ncas

01:21

i've got some filling in to do you're

01:24

really into maths and science at the

01:25

moment

01:26

and that doesn't change you score a tv

01:28

show on the bionic eye

01:29

and you really want to be a medical

01:31

researcher but soon you'll realize that

01:33

research requires a lot of reading and

01:35

repetition and it might not be for you

01:37

you also realize you love making things

01:40

combined with your love of maths and

01:41

science

01:41

you decided to study chemical

01:43

engineering and chemistry

01:46

you thought i was going to say coding

01:47

didn't you no

01:49

at the moment you still think it's

01:52

plugging and printing i can't see by

01:53

anyone who wanna study that for three

01:55

years

01:55

[Music]

01:57

you go up to university learn how to

01:59

engineer chemicals

02:00

you're living on campus and one night

02:02

some friends decide to teach you how to

02:03

code

02:04

you think of the basics fast and it's

02:06

actually pretty cool

02:07

for the first time you'll think maybe i

02:09

should do a voting course

02:11

and eventually you do it's scary at

02:13

first

02:14

especially being surrounded by people

02:16

mostly boys who've been phoning for

02:17

years

02:18

but you stick with it soon you realize

02:21

you're really good at algorithms

02:22

all that maths you left in high school

02:24

it has a use and you cram a computer

02:26

science major into your degree

02:28

after five years you graduate and you've

02:30

already done cool things by combining

02:32

coding with sustainable engineering

02:34

you've also started volunteering for the

02:36

girls programming network gpn for sure

02:38

where women teach girls how to code at

02:40

first you thought you were too much of a

02:42

beginner to teach coding

02:43

but joining shows you how much you do

02:45

know and how much you actually didn't

02:47

when it's not just boys in the room

02:50

eventually the girl's product network

02:51

will need someone to step up and run it

02:53

for a little while

02:54

you'll be told it's easy and hardly any

02:56

work

02:57

don't believe them but do it anyway

03:00

you'll soon find out there's more to the

03:01

job

03:02

and you'll make even more work for

03:03

yourself adding new ideas

03:05

but you only have a short time at the

03:06

helm so why not

03:08

well i'm still writing that program five

03:11

years on

03:12

i threw that little sydney outreach

03:14

program until we couldn't fit

03:16

any more girls in the building but it

03:18

didn't stop there

03:19

i decided to take the program national

03:21

we now have six year notes in cities

03:23

around australia

03:24

with three more starting up soon we

03:27

teach over 1500 girls to code a year and

03:29

we've been working on an online program

03:31

to help rural girls get involved

03:33

i love gpn because it's the opportunity

03:36

to give girls what i wish i'd known

03:38

earlier

03:38

she tells them that cody can change the

03:40

world and girls have to be involved in

03:42

that

03:43

also it's really fun this passion for

03:45

sharing a love of coding with kids that

03:47

got me my job at brock learning too

03:49

where we work every day to help make

03:51

coding education accessible to

03:53

every child so

03:56

weird story right there's definitely

03:58

some things i wish i'd known when i was

04:00

your age

04:01

firstly give coding a try earlier might

04:04

save you this whole

04:05

roundabout journey and too many women

04:07

take the long path

04:08

to a carrier and test secondly

04:11

you do belong here it's scary when you

04:14

first start out

04:15

you feel like you'll never catch up and

04:17

you don't get all that cool nerd jokes

04:18

and references

04:20

well you'll learn the coding faster than

04:21

you think and

04:23

turns out the cool nurse notes aren't

04:25

that cool you'll find people who share

04:27

your interests

04:28

and your place in the world gk is great

04:30

for that

04:32

finally don't be so quick to assume that

04:34

everybody knows everything you know and

04:36

more

04:37

the world of technology is huge there's

04:39

so many things to learn no one can ever

04:40

know them all

04:42

and you bring your own unique

04:43

perspective and experience to every

04:45

situation

04:47

the world of technology is about more

04:49

than coding

04:50

it's about collaboration communication

04:53

and ideas

04:54

and we need every person everybody at

04:56

that table

04:57

especially women and girls

05:11

[Music]

05:26

00:00

[Music]

00:07

hey alex

00:07

it's me your future self if i know 12

00:11

year old me correctly you're probably

00:12

running through the bush trying to find

00:14

the best place to put a swing

00:16

trying to convince your dad to let you

00:17

go on the tractor and trying to find the

00:19

best way to get down to the beach the

00:21

afternoon

00:22

well right now i am the manager of the

00:25

deep green biotech hub at the university

00:27

of technology sydney

00:29

i think you'd be pretty stoked to have

00:30

this job it's doing lots of things that

00:32

you love when you're a kid

00:34

i get to help businesses become more

00:36

sustainable

00:37

develop innovative new products and work

00:40

in an industry that is trying to address

00:42

things like climate change

00:44

i know that sounds pretty far off what

00:45

you thought you were going to do when

00:46

you're in high school

00:48

but you'll get there and i know that

00:51

your favorite subjects are things like

00:52

english and biology and guess what

00:54

you'll be able to mash them both

00:56

together by helping people to

00:57

communicate

00:58

science more effectively it's going to

01:00

be weird for a little while

01:02

going off to uni and doing something

01:03

that feels like it just doesn't quite

01:05

fit

01:06

but you'll find your feet it's going to

01:07

take a little while but you get into a

01:09

space that you really love

01:10

and start applying skills and working in

01:13

a field that you're really really

01:14

passionate about

01:16

i know that it seems like a lot because

01:19

right now

01:19

in high school it feels like the only

01:21

two things that are out there is to

01:23

become a doctor

01:24

or to become a pharmacist but there are

01:27

so many other fields of science out

01:28

there and so many different jobs and

01:30

some jobs you'll even carve out for

01:32

yourself

01:34

i grew up in a town called cross harbour

01:36

which is about seven hours north

01:38

in sydney and there weren't many big

01:40

cities around there weren't many big

01:41

shops but it was a really nice place to

01:43

grow up

01:45

it seemed really daunting growing up

01:46

there because i loved science

01:48

but the only careers that seemed to be

01:50

out there for things like me

01:52

were being a pharmacist or working in

01:54

the medical field

01:56

i had some family members who were in

01:58

science which was really

02:00

inspiring but i just didn't feel like

02:02

working in

02:03

medicine or something else like that was

02:05

really the right fit for me

02:07

i loved growing up around nature and i

02:09

loved growing up in

02:10

the rainforest and this was something

02:12

that really inspired me to

02:14

continue working in the fields that they

02:15

were but there's something that i

02:17

remember from high school that really

02:18

resonated with me and that i was

02:20

continually told that the careers that

02:22

i'll have in the future

02:23

don't exist today and that it's entirely

02:26

true for the career that i currently

02:27

have

02:28

this job that i currently have didn't

02:30

exist even five years ago and

02:32

now there's all sorts of people like me

02:33

popping up across the country that are

02:35

using their passions in things like

02:36

climate change and sustainability

02:38

to work directly with businesses and

02:40

helping them develop new products

02:42

the other thing that i really loved

02:43

doing in high school was talking but i

02:44

didn't know

02:45

that there was a career that could help

02:47

me talk about science

02:48

in in a way that actually earned me

02:50

money but i also lecture undergrad

02:53

and go out and communicate science so

02:55

i'm able to pull these two things that i

02:57

really like doing in high school

02:59

and actually make a career out of it as

03:00

well

03:02

when i was in science in school i i

03:04

really loved it but i wasn't really sure

03:06

about how i could use these skills

03:08

in a way that gave myself a career but i

03:10

think it takes some time and it really

03:12

takes perseverance

03:13

and making sure that you ask questions

03:15

you ask people for help

03:17

you ask people for opportunities and you

03:19

never lose that inquisitive nature

03:20

that you have as a kid because it is so

03:22

essential to having a career in science

03:25

go out there and give it a go because it

03:27

really is amazing and these are really

03:29

the careers of the future

03:38

[Music]

03:58

do

04:00

00:00

[Music]

00:06

hi brenna it's me

00:08

a few years down the track you're

00:10

probably home in bathurst right now

00:12

out in the paddock helping dad fix yet

00:14

another fits

00:16

well i have some good news for you on

00:18

that front who will eventually pay

00:20

people to construct a whole new fence

00:23

around the house

00:24

so your days of using a wire strainer

00:26

are for the moment

00:28

gone right now i'm in my

00:31

third year studying civil and

00:33

environmental engineering

00:34

however right now you are conflicted

00:38

about you want to do

00:38

when you graduate high school you're

00:41

worried about making the wrong decision

00:43

and ruining your future well

00:46

i'm here to tell you that you made the

00:49

right

00:50

decision the best decision you could

00:53

have

00:54

you chose to study engineering and well

00:58

you love it it challenges you

01:01

it drives you it makes you think about

01:04

and identify problems that people face

01:07

daily

01:08

and how vital a role engineering plays

01:10

in solving these

01:13

engineering has opened so many doors for

01:16

you

01:16

it has granted you a magnitude of

01:18

opportunities that you wouldn't have had

01:20

otherwise

01:21

these range from the friends you've made

01:23

and your amazing mentor

01:25

to your internship and overseas

01:27

university experiences

01:29

in poland and cambodia of course

01:32

that's all ahead of you now but let me

01:35

tell you

01:36

you will have you have so

01:40

much to look forward to and it is

01:43

because of your background

01:44

the struggles you've been through and

01:46

those you will go through

01:48

that these opportunities have been

01:50

available

01:52

when you grow up on a property 30 odd

01:54

kilometers from ballast

01:56

in a house that we can walk out the

01:58

front door

01:59

turn in a full circle and not see a

02:03

single neighbor it is great

02:07

however we're told that a

02:10

it is a disadvantage to live remotely

02:13

with only satellite internet connection

02:15

and no mobile phone service well to a

02:18

certain extent

02:19

this is certainly very true i

02:23

don't believe that it encompasses the

02:25

whole story

02:27

you are strong because of this not in

02:30

spite of this

02:31

and don't let anyone tell you otherwise

02:35

i believe

02:36

growing up in a regional area gave us an

02:39

advantage over kids that grew up in a

02:40

city

02:41

it allows us to think differently to

02:44

view

02:44

and tackle problems in ways that others

02:48

just don't see and this is a major asset

02:51

in stem streams we are able to consider

02:54

challenges holistically and think about

02:56

it from all the different angles

02:59

picture your current scenario you're

03:02

right in the paddock

03:04

kangaroos have made giant holes in the

03:07

boundary vents

03:08

big enough for the neighbor's sheep to

03:09

get through and you have limited

03:11

resources and tools on hand

03:13

but you have to find a way to fix this

03:16

hole here

03:17

today you do it because you have to

03:20

right you had a problem you had a set

03:24

list of resources and tools available

03:27

and you developed a creative innovative

03:31

solution that is just what engineering

03:34

is

03:36

the skills you have developed growing up

03:38

regionally are completely transferable

03:40

into stem careers

03:42

engineering is not just numbers not at

03:45

all

03:46

it's finding ways to think about

03:48

problems and solutions

03:50

that others haven't thought of before

03:52

and you do that

03:53

every single day because of your

03:55

upbringing and that is why

03:57

you love engineering when i first moved

04:01

to sydney for university at 18

04:03

i was worried about leaving everything i

04:05

knew behind

04:06

i was concerned that i would be

04:08

disadvantaged by coming

04:09

from a country background as i didn't

04:11

have access to the same opportunities

04:13

other

04:14

students have i've moved away from my

04:16

friends and family

04:18

but i put my best foot forward by

04:20

connecting with like-minded

04:22

creative dedicated and innovative people

04:25

and now i love the life i've created and

04:28

guess what you will too i just want you

04:32

to remember

04:33

you are brave you

04:36

are smart you have individual talents

04:40

that no one else has be

04:44

proud of who you are where you have come

04:46

from and what tragedies you've overcome

04:49

to be where you are today just know

04:52

that from wherever you are you can go

04:55

anywhere in life that you choose

04:58

coming from a regional background will

05:01

serve you

05:02

in so many ways that you don't think are

05:05

possible

05:06

the skills you learn they will be

05:08

applicable in

05:09

every aspect of your life oh

05:13

and one last thing the reason

05:16

that dad finally paid to build a fence

05:18

around the house

05:19

well in a few months you are going to

05:22

have an adorable sneaky

05:24

little call you puppy as part of your

05:26

family so that's something to look

05:28

forward to as well

05:29

you have a very bright future ahead of

05:31

you i wish you all the best

05:40

[Music]

05:50

do

05:54

[Music]

00:00

[Music]

00:06

hi emma

00:07

it's me your future self you grew up in

00:10

deniliquin

00:11

in southern new south wales so right now

00:13

you're probably camping with your family

00:15

outbush

00:16

swag rolled out damper cooking on the

00:18

fire

00:19

waiting for the milky way to line up the

00:21

night sky

00:23

right now i'm working for two different

00:25

universities i'm an outreach and

00:27

education

00:28

officer at swinburne university of

00:30

technology

00:31

and a senior teaching fellow for first

00:32

year physics at the university of

00:34

melbourne

00:35

at 10 years old you never would have

00:37

expected a career like this

00:39

when you think about your career options

00:41

you look to the people around you

00:43

you are surrounded by tradies farmers

00:46

accountants

00:47

teachers local businesses but none of

00:50

those really appeal to you

00:52

there aren't many scientists in denny so

00:55

when you think of science you put

00:56

someone in a white coat mixing chemicals

00:59

in a lab

01:00

it'll take you many years to understand

01:02

just how broad

01:04

the stem field really is in my

01:07

outreach job i get to use my creativity

01:10

and organizational skills

01:12

i create fun science programs for people

01:14

like you

01:15

to help them explore the wonder of the

01:17

universe

01:18

i'm surrounded by such a variety of

01:20

people where our different backgrounds

01:23

actually make us stronger as a team

01:26

as a physics teaching fellow i teach

01:28

first-year physics students

01:30

i get to help develop the content that

01:32

they learn

01:33

while managing a team of tutors using a

01:36

multi-faceted

01:37

skill set means my day-to-day work is

01:40

always new

01:41

and exciting and i have so many

01:44

different

01:44

pathways available to me as i continue

01:47

in my career

01:49

studying physics let me understand the

01:51

inner workings of the world around us

01:54

i've studied programming i've worked

01:56

more maths than i thought even existed

01:59

i mean i am from the future so i could

02:01

lie and say that i'm a rocket scientist

02:03

working for nasa

02:04

but my brothers already make those jokes

02:07

plus i don't really know how this whole

02:08

time travel thing works and i don't want

02:10

you ruining all my hard work

02:12

but you didn't go into science straight

02:14

away even at the start of year 11

02:16

you weren't going to do a single science

02:18

subject because you didn't think that

02:20

was a career for you

02:22

when you told your science teacher that

02:24

she nearly fainted

02:26

so you agreed to do biology

02:29

then by chance your ancient history

02:31

subject didn't run

02:32

so you agreed to do physics you ended up

02:35

loving the sciences so much

02:37

that you switched from modern history to

02:39

chemistry

02:40

halfway through year 11. you spent the

02:43

winter break studying six months of

02:46

chemistry

02:47

you set the media test and got the top

02:49

mark

02:50

you nerd i think that was the moment you

02:53

decided science might just be for you

02:57

now you're probably worried about how

02:59

you'll be disadvantaged coming from a

03:01

rural background

03:02

you don't have science role models other

03:05

than those you've seen in movies

03:06

you didn't get to do expensive

03:08

experiments at school

03:10

you've never seen a university and no

03:12

one in your immediate family has a

03:13

degree

03:15

people have high expectations for you

03:17

and you're worried about leaving your

03:18

friends and family behind to travel 300

03:21

kilometers to go to uni

03:23

i won't lie they can be tough challenges

03:26

to overcome

03:27

but you will overcome them and you'll be

03:29

so much stronger for it growing up in a

03:32

rural community

03:33

you develop many skills that people in

03:36

the cities just don't have

03:38

strengths you didn't know you had when

03:40

you moved to melbourne you'll find that

03:42

your background

03:43

sets you apart because you'll be capable

03:46

of so much more

03:48

physics is a male dominated field but

03:50

you'll love

03:51

defying expectations and utilizing the

03:53

skills that only you have

03:56

so don't be afraid to take up the

03:58

challenge your old school motto must

04:00

face the task which you will

04:03

i still love to go out camping and stare

04:06

up at the night sky

04:07

but now i have such a vast understanding

04:09

of the universe that we're in

04:11

and i am fascinated by just staring at

04:13

the milky way

04:14

your decision to study physics has

04:16

gotten you this far

04:18

who knows where you'll go next

04:30

[Music]

04:50

you