Year 11 MacRobbians and the US Ambassador ~ Class of 2016 Blog

(We would like to credit the photographer: who was that?)

This article was contributed by Macy Greene. Thanks Macy!

On Friday 27th February, Vicki Chan, Mai Doan, Orissa Dixon, Samadi Mallawa and I were privileged to attend the U.S. Ambassador's Innovation Roundtable at the Hawthorn Arts Centre. There, we listened to three panels of highly successful speakers who talked about the importance of collaboration between companies and how this is extremely beneficial to the development of the future. They also spoke about how healthy competition increases progress, and how this is a necessary component as well.

Entrepreneurship was also discussed wherein it was interesting to note that in Australia, if a small business were to fail, we as a culture would blame both the model or setup of the business and the type of business itself. This is opposed to America who blame the model of the business but use this as a learning experience to try again using a different model, or European countries who blame the field of the business and use it as a learning experience to try again in a different field. This means that because of our cultural values in Australia, our small businesses are less likely to grow and bounce back from failures, which is something that needs to be changed.

In particular, the involvement and need to encourage more women into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields were highlighted and discussed. This is to break the stereotype that STEM careers are mostly male-directed professions. For example, engineering careers are not only mechanical or electricity-related, as they are so commonly perceived, and involve a wide range of careers including design, the environment, inventions that develop the world of medicine and science, and a lot more! The speakers emphasised how important it is to learn how much we as women have to offer to the world of STEM, particularly with our different approaches, attitudes and ways of thinking.

As a treat, we were able to see a robot move around and dance! It was exciting to see it respond to verbal commands and function so proficiently. The whole day was a very eye-opening and informative experience, and I'm sure we all left with a new view of just how exciting the future can be.