The experience of Work integrated Learning at Griffith University!!

 

“It is what we already know that often prevents us from learning”

-          Claude Bernard

This is exactly one of the sole reasons for me to do WIL at Griffith University .Being an engineer involves me to have enough practical and worldly knowledge for me to solve problems in an efficient and creative manner. As engineering is all about using science to find creative practical solutions, I al need to be in environment where I can work with challenges and upskill my technical acumen.

As an international student doing my postgraduate studies in Electronics and Energy Engineering, I heard about the “Community internships” during my first year .I had then and there decided to utilize my summer vacation and do something productive .And thus, I took the opportunity to enroll myself for community internship for Trimester 3.I have to say that, taking this opportunity wasn’t that easy .I was pretty nervous with regard to the internships offered. Also I was sacrificing my vacation to visit my family the community internship! But then I made up my mind to follow my passion and get started with the internship program. And what a journey it has been! Right from choosing my internship opportunity through an easy online platform called SONIA to getting offered the interview opportunity at SUBSTATION 33 which was my organization was a comfortable journey. Thanks to the excellent communication and workings of Internship placement officers, everything from interview to induction and training went smoothly. My heart is full of gratitude to the support I received from placement officers who were always in touch with me in regards to internships.

In regard to the internships, I was offered at SUBSTATION 33.To talk about substation 33, I would say they are doing the lord’s work by helping our environment and reduce e-waste to an extent. It is a social enterprise based in the Logan suburb of Kingston and opened its doors in January 2013 as an electronic waste recycling centre, providing a workplace where volunteers and employees gain confidence and skills for the transition to sustainable employment. Its purpose is to provide training and employment opportunities through the recycling of electronic waste. I was surprised to see projects such as Flooded Road Smart Warning Signs, Electric ‘e-bikes’, 3D printers, a vertical garden monitoring system projects made from scratch and all with the e-waste that’s obtained to donations. These projects greatly helped me in upskilling my technical acumen in areas of electronic and energy engineering. I also got to participate in helping for the POWER WELLS project, a collaborative effort between students of UQ and substation 33 which repurposes used lithium-ion batteries to give them a second life - diverting waste from landfill, and providing energy to the billion people without power.  The end results were that villages of Indonesia were benefitted from this generation of electricity.

Working for three months at Substation 33 taught me to care about the environment in much more productive way. Also from what I see, it welcomes all races of people. There’s no personal bias as such .Everyone gathers there to lend a hand in making the environment and the community better. I can proudly say that I worked along with different kinds of people whether it be of different religion, age, gender etc. And all I received was a comfortable atmosphere where I could use my engineering skills to develop projects and solutions. For this amazing experience, I would extend my deepest gratitude to the founder of Substation 33, Tony Sharp and my supervisor Simon Schdmitke for their continued support along the way. Also to the amazing staff Kayla ,Krystal ,Emma  and others for helping me out and actually giving me work to do !!.Also I would like to thank the Griffith university placement office for helping me search and enroll into the internship smoothly.

 

 

And to all the current and future students, I would definitely recommend you all to enroll for the internship program offered at Griffith University .It is such a golden opportunity to not only get grades but also help the community and people around you! You can find more info on my Griffith and talk to internship officers for options. As there are tons of internships offered, take a step today and register for community internship! And I am sure you won’t regret it !