In the second week of the holidays, I had the privilege of going to the Royal New Zealand Air Force School to Skies camp, for y13 girls taking STEM subjects, on their base in Ohakea.

 The 40 girls that had travelled from all over New Zealand were split into four groups, mine being Poseidon, named after the brand-new maritime patrol aircraft. We had a full schedule every day, starting with waking up at 6 am for breakfast in the mess, and then going through a variety of practical lessons and theory. Our theory lessons taught us the principles of flight, what a military career lifestyle looks like, how to maintain a good mindset in adversity and much more.

However, the most exciting lessons by far were the practical ones. I got to practice repairing a real aircraft, learned how to camouflage in the bush, got taught how to march, used night vision goggles, thermal imaging, and UV light testing, learned how to change a tyre, practised making electronics for aircraft, and got tours of many different trades within the RNZAF. We even had to do the recruit fitness testing, which wasn’t as bad as I thought. We also got to go in their helicopter flight simulator, which I found didn’t come naturally to me after my instructor narrowly avoided a few crashes. On the second to last day, after practising planning rescue missions, we got a surprise from our mentors. We were getting to go for a ride in the NH90 helicopter. We flew around the base and all the way over the beach with both doors and the ramp open, and we even got a demonstration of someone being winched out.

This camp was an amazing experience for me and opened up many more potential career paths and put me in contact with many role models. If any Year 12s are interested for next year, here is the link to register your interest! - https://hipaa.jotform.com/223195959153869