Growing up in regional New South Wales, constructing model rockets and exploring careers in science seemed a world away for engineering student Nicola Baker.
Now the 19-year-old is dedicating herself to ensuring kids — no matter where they live — have opportunities to explore career paths in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
“I grew up in a small town just north of Grafton in Ballina where there weren’t many STEM things going on, especially for girls,” Ms Baker said.
“It’s been amazing just seeing the girls’ faces light up watching another girl teach them how to do this stuff and knowing that there is a spot for them in this area.
“It’s made me feel more passionate about getting girls into this.”
Ms Baker is one of the organisers of the Aerospace Academy, a series of free school holiday workshops teaching children about space, aviation and other emerging technologies.
The academy is run by the not-for-profit STEM education body, One Giant Leap Australia Foundation, with support from the state government.
During school holidays, Ms Baker helped run workshops in Port Macquarie, Taree and Port Stephens on the NSW Mid North Coast for children aged between 12 and 15 over the past two weeks.
Dozens of children signed up for the workshops to learn about space exploration, rockets, Mars and Moon rovers and space agriculture, and play with virtual reality sets, flight simulators and drones.
Friends Coco Lipscombe, 13, and Sophie Cooper, 12, from Old Bar, said they were feeling inspired about a possible future in the aerospace industry after attending the Taree workshop.
“I wanna go [to space] because I want to fly,” Sophie said.
“I would like in the future to build buildings on Mars and make it liveable.
“It’ll be a long, long way away, but it … might happen.”
Coco said her favourite part was building and launching model rockets.
“When I grow up, I might want to design spaceships and stuff,” Coco said.
“They said that whatever jobs there are on Earth, there will also be those jobs in space, or for space as well.”
Inspiring the next generation
Ms Baker said her pathway into engineering was made possible by Aerospace Academy organiser and director of One Giant Leap Australia, Jackie Carpenter and her late husband Bob.
“About five years ago, I met Jackie and Bob, and they sponsored me to go to America with them to space camp,” Ms Baker said.
“I’ve done multiple different projects with them … from doing hands-on coding, flying drones and remote control planes to starting a STEM program for girls called Gadget Girls.”
She said her goal was to help provide the same opportunities to other children in regional areas who didn’t have the same resources as their city counterparts.
Ms Carpenter said she was hopeful the state government support would continue so she could carry on running camps and workshops for regional children.
“The regions have been suffering with drought, flood, mouse plagues, COVID, a lack of tourism … so for us to come out to the regions is the right thing to do,” she said.
“The city kids are feeling a bit left out … so we’re having people from the cities come out to the regions.
With Australia leading the world in remote operations technologies, Ms Carpenter said the workshops were showcasing the “jobs of the future” for what had been dubbed the Artemis Generation.
“We’ve been talking about asteroid mining and the $3 trillion industry that will never come back to Earth,” she said.
“From the remote operation of drones to the remote operation of rovers, to the remote operation of a robot, finding asteroids … and 3D printing habitats to go on the moon.
“It’s brought me to tears many times how enthusiastic and inspiring these kids are … I’m certain I’ve converted some into rocket scientists.”
During the April holidays, workshops were held in Dubbo, Coonabarabran and Armidale. The academy is planning more workshops later this year.