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Monday, 21 December 2009 00:00 |
The latest TDA intern, Shirley Sun, a 3rd year Bachelor of Civil Engineering student at the University of Sydney, is demonstrating day by day here at the TDA offices the value of the TDA internship program.
Although Shirley has only been with us since early December, she has already established herself as an asset to the association. Shirley is assisting Tony Walther, our overworked structural engineer, with his investigations of the carbon storage capacities and thermal properties of Australian timber species. She is, moreover, cheerfully helping with all the minor tasks that keep the office running smoothly. This couldn’t have come at a better time: Laurel Clarke, our office manager, has just retired, and we are still settling into our new premises in St Leonards. Things are hectic – and Shirley’s help is very welcome!
We’re glad that Shirley too is finding her internship valuable: “Not only have I been given a chance to apply my knowledge in the field of my studies, I am constantly learning new things that textbooks cannot possibly teach – communicating and working with other engineers, site visits, and even the day-to-day running of an office.”
Good though this is, there’s a bigger story here than just Shirley Sun. TDA is always on the lookout for young timber talent from which to grow the experts that our industry will need in years to come. Our internship program is an important means of encouraging this growth. It has received ever more interest in recent years as Australian universities embrace the US tradition of academic internships. This trend has seen students like Shirley increasingly being offered academic credit for holiday or semester internships with suitable organisations. The timber industry needs to recognise the opportunities this affords: our future prosperity depends upon growing talent every bit as much as trees! |
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