Sprinter was on the ground with a sea of wide-eyed school leavers at the Victorian Careers & Employment Expo held at the Melbourne Showgrounds this week.
The Australian Signs & Graphics Association, in collaboration with Visual Connections, the Visual Media Association, FESPA Australia, the FPLMA, and the LIA staged an Education Program to raise school students’ awareness of our industry.
The exhibit was buzzing with queues of students waiting to have their turn at the exciting activities on offer.
Chloe Quilty teaches Certificate 3 Signs and Graphics at Victoria University and works for CA Create. She was there hosting the stand and talking to students about exploring a career in the world of print.
Quilty’s graduation class helped students with hands-on interactive activities, including wrapping part of a motorbike tank and car mirrors to practise vehicle wrapping swapping from black glitter and Barbie pink.
Students also experimented with a spindle engraver, creating key rings by engraving their names. They pressed t-shirts and bags with heat press vinyl for custom clothing by melting decals.
“The crowd loves it, and it’s more exposure for our trade. It’s such a niche trade, but the industry is booming, so the more exposure we can get in the industry, the larger we can get,” said Quilty.
She said she believes there are a lot of students interested in a career in print but says promoting is important because “if you can’t see it, you don’t know it’s there.”
“You need to know what is out there and get the exposure,” Quilty said. “It’s letting them get the hands-on experience with the multiple elements of our broad industry.”
The exhibit was proudly sponsored by Amari Visual Solutions, Ball & Doggett, Cactus Imaging, FujiFilm Graphic Systems, Graphic Art Mart, Mulford Australia, ORAFOL, Pozitive Sign & Graphics Supplies and Signarama with partnering sponsors Bottcher, FPLMA, Hero Print, MacDermid Graphic Solutions and Spicers.
Representatives from the industry were on hand to engage students with the exciting and progressive business of print and sign production.
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