SSP Careers, Volunteering & Study – Tangalooma EcoMarines

Careers, Study and Volunteering

Facts and Figures

We hope that by being a part of the EcoMarines makes you want to carry what you have learnt into the future. Therefore, we have provided you with a few suggestions on volunteering and studying conservation, environmental management and helping wildlife below!

Working in and/or studying ways to help our environments is becoming more and more popular! Did you know that…

out of every 10 people surveyed in Australia are concerned about our environment!

So, having a career or working within an environment industry is a great path to set you up for rewarding job prospects!

Challenges, Work Shops and Resources

Volunteering

Volunteering within the field of conservation and environment will help you gain skills that you may need when applying for jobs and/or pursuing further studies. It is also a fun and educational way to interact and engage with like-minded people and may also help you develop a healthy work ethic.

We have provided you with a list of volunteer opportunities below, which have been categorised according to council region. For more volunteering opportunities check out your local council’s website. You will have to ensure that the volunteer location
accepts youth applicants/volunteers.

Happy Volunteering fellow EcoMarines!

Brisbane City Council

· Try volunteering at 1 of 3 environment centres in Brisbane City Council. Locations include:

Ø Boondall Wetlands

Ø Downfall Creek

Ø Karawatha Forest

Visit the BCC website for more information:

· Are you interested in botany and/or horticulture? Then you might enjoy volunteering at the Botanic Gardens as a guide or a welcomer – if you’re interested you can phone Brisbane Botanic Gardens Administration on 07 3403 2531 during business hours

· Do you want some hands-on experience in restoring and enhancing habitat and biodiversity in bushland, parks, wetlands, and waterways? Volunteer with a Habitat Brisbane group! For further information, you can phone Council on 07 3403 8888!

Visit the Habitat Brisbane website below to find your local group:

· Do you have a passion for reducing food waste? You can volunteer as a caretaker at one of Brisbane City Council’s composting hub. You can email your local community composting hub to find out how you can get involved – you can find local hub location and email details here:

City of Gold Coast

· Are you interested in protecting and restoring our natural environment? You can join a community tree planting event! There are different groups across the Gold Coast, you can find out more about your local Bushcare/Landcare Group here:

· Or if you want to get involved with keeping our beaches healthy and beautiful, you can volunteer with Our Beaches Community! Check out their events below. You can make a booking to volunteer in the community sessions before the available spaces run out!

· Do you want to get involved in local citizen science projects? Check out:

Ø Our Beaches CoastSnap – help record and monitor changes to our coastline using a phone app

Ø NaturallyGC iNaturalist – contribute plant and animal sightings from across different natural areas in the Gold Coast

Ø Report koala sightings – help monitor local koala populations by reporting koala sightings using an online form

· You can join the NaturallyGC program to ‘connect, conserve and explore’ the Gold Coast’s natural environment. You can learn more about the program here:

· Get involved with your local community garden and start growing your own veggies, fruits, herbs and/or flowers! You can find their nearest one here:

Moreton Bay Regional Council

· Would you like to get some hands-on experience in conservation and restoration activities? Why not volunteer with Bushcare and help with tree planting, rubbish removal, weed removal/control!

*Disclaimer: this program is currently at capacity (as of 01/02/22) and unable to accept new volunteers. However, check out the website in upcoming months for new volunteer opportunities!

· Are interested in community education? You may be suitable for an engagement volunteer role at 1 of 3 Environment Centres within Moreton Bay Regional Council:

Ø Caboolture Region Environment Education Centre (CREEC)

Ø Kumbartcho Sanctuary

Ø Osprey House Environment Centre
For more information provide them with this document outlining the details of this volunteer opportunity visit the website below:

· If you prefer more hands-on experience and contribute to maintaining natural areas within the Council’s Environment Centres, you could apply for a grounds volunteer position! Here’s an outline of the position:

· Are you interested in gardening? You can participate in assisting the operations of the Community Nurseries, as a community nursery volunteer, at either of the 3 locations:

Ø Caboolture Region Environment Education Centre (CREEC)

Ø Kumbartcho Sanctuary

· Redcliffe Botanical Gardens

Learn more here:

Eco-Career Workshop

Careers Workshop Challenge

This period of your life involves wondering about what you want to do with your life post-high school. It may seem a bit daunting, but now is also a good opportunity to research into different career fields that may be of interest to you.

Why not host a careers workshop with your EcoMarines Ambassadors at your school?

You can invite industry experts and community members you are inspired by! It may help you gain a better understanding of what you would like and/or dislike in a career. The more diversity of industry professionals you have at your workshop the more exposure you and your peers have to potential career pathways you may want to pursue. And, if many students are interested in conservation and/or the environment, this workshop is a great way to showcase the multiple career paths that align with such fields!

Step 1

Plan the careers workshop event!

Who is coming?

Discuss with your fellow ambassadors and teacher(s) about people within your network and community who you would like to invite. Here are some questions to consider when deciding who to invite:

Do we want industry experts from a particular field or a range of fields e.g. professionals from the environmental management/ conservation field
Who is likely to come to a high school’s career workshop? (unfortunately, it’s pretty unlikely that Dr Jane Goodall will talk at your workshop)
Can you think of some atypical experts in the field? For example, if your chosen field is conservation, why not invite a tradesman or architect who specialises building eco-friendly homes?
What is a realistic number of people to invite to talk at your workshop?

Once you have a solid list of people you would like to invite, construct a kindly worded email template that you can use and personalise for each individual. We have provided you with a email template that you may utilise for this process.

What will your careers workshop include?

Here are some questions to consider to better define what your workshop will be like:

Will you have guest speakers scheduled at specific times?
Will you have free drinks and snacks at the workshop for your special guests and peers?
Will your workshop be set up like a conference with different stalls and/or panels that your peers can visit?
Will you have cool, fun activities that you and your peers can do during the workshop?

When and where will your careers workshop be held?

Figure out when and where you will hold the careers workshop.

Meet with your EcoMarines crew and/or your school leadership team to organise all the details!

Also, try booking the room/hall in advance. You wouldn’t want to get left stuck with no room to hold your workshop in.

Step 2

Now that you have decided on when and where, you can send out your invites and hope for the best! Give your invitees enough time in advance to RSVP to the event. The more time you give them to RSVP and save the date, the better!

Step 3

How are you going to gain interest within your school for this event?

You could try advertising the workshop to targeted year levels using one or more of the following ideas:

Include it in the school newsletter
Create a fun, entertaining video to present at the next assembly
Post it on your school’s social media e.g. Instagram, Facebook
Post flyers in high traffic areas (ideally using recycled paper)

Step 4

Host the careers workshop! Don’t forget to have fun, ask questions and take notes. Send us photos of your careers workshop and let us know how it goes!

EcoMarines CHECK event

The EcoMarines team will be holding a new event called the CHECK event in Term 3 where all secondary school ambassadors will be invited to attend.

CHECK is an abbreviation that stands for the following:

C – CULTURE
H – HISTORY
E – ENVIRONMENT
C – CAREER PATHS
K – KINDNESS

That is what the whole event is about! We want to provide the senior EcoMarines ambassadors with an opportunity to learn about:

the history and culture of Traditional Custodians
our environment and the importance of protecting and conserving it
career paths within the environmental management and conservation field
(most importantly) kindness within our EcoMarines community and why it’s such a core quality to being an EcoMarines.

We will provide ambassadors with a CHECK booklet which will give them extra resources that may help with looking into career pathways, volunteering opportunities plus more!

We will send out emails regarding the CHECK event closer the the date!

School Spotlights!

St. Columban's College

Career's Night

The EcoMarines of St. Columban’s College hosted an EcoMarines stall at their school’s career night. At their stall they educated their community on ways to reduce their waste with some creative eco-friendly ideas such as:

reusing coffee grounds as a natural pesticide and fertilizer
potting succulents into used jars
using materials to make bees wax wraps instead of cling wrap