Thinking about the future can be scary for some 17-year-olds, but for others, it’s exhilarating.

Meet Zac, a year 11 student at Redlands College who is nothing but thrilled to begin his career and life after school.

On his September school holidays, Zac opted for a week of work experience at a landscape architecture firm in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, Vee Design.

Zac’s interest in landscape architecture stemmed from a graphics subject at school:

“I really enjoyed the subject and also love the outdoors, working with nature, so I thought landscape architecture is a great combination of both.”

Pathways advisor, Margaret, at Redlands College has been working with CSQ Career Pathways Coordinator Tony Martin, for a number of years now.

Redlands College is a part of CSQ’s Gateways Program; an initiative that aims to transition young people from school to work while completing school and gaining formal qualifications.

When Zac told Margaret about his interest in landscape architecture, CSQ came to her mind straight away.

Margaret is keen to get the word out about career options within the construction industry:

“The kids only think of construction as building, but there is a whole host of jobs in that space and we want them to know this!”

We spoke to Zac after a couple of days working in the office and he had so many fantastic things to say:

“Work experience has opened my eyes to a whole bunch of things, it has been really cool to see how landscape architects work and their processes.”

“My favourite bit so far has been the team collaboration, bouncing ideas off each other, and being able to be creative has been awesome! This week has confirmed that I want to be a Landscape Architect.”

Lots of young people graduate school and without knowing what field of work they want to go in or what type of study to choose.

Zac agrees that “Heading into uni without any idea or background knowledge would be scary. Now I know, am I’m not so worried.”

Zac acquired a number of practical skills during his week; including going out on-site visits, sitting in on team collaboration sessions, and drawing up some of his own designs.

CSQ’s Pathways Coordinator Tony says “The fact that Zac wants to now be in our industry from this work experience makes me so happy and is why I do the job I do.”

Zac, can’t wait to see what you grow into.

If you want more information on CSQ’s Gateways program, click here.