Students from Menai High School proved they are moo-ving in the right direction after taking out two first prizes at a recent competition run by Dairy Australia.
Eloise Carey, Bree Clark, Zoe Tambimuttu and Peta-Lee Duchenne-Crow were awarded Junior First Prize while Menai High School was named overall Winning Senior School at Dairy Australia's Cows Create Careers project.
The project aims to increase awareness of dairy industry jobs by asking students to care for two three-week-old calves. The prizes were awarded at an event in Fairy Meadow last month attended by 130 students from 18 schools.
Menai High School teacher Melissa Ready said a total of 60 students comprising five teams from year 8, four teams from year 9; and two year 10 teams took part in the project, which saw students complete assessments based on the dairy industry curriculum provided. A dairy farmer visited each school to teach students how to care for the calves while an industry advocate also spoke to them about careers in the dairy industry.
Ms Ready said while one team was awarded Junior First Prize, all of the teams contributed to the point score to take out the Winning Senior School title.
Dairy Australia spokeswoman Sally Roberts said it was great to see secondary students passionate about Australia's dairy industry.
"The aim of Cows Create Careers is to increase the students' awareness of the diversity of educational pathways and career opportunities in Australia's dairy industry," she said.
"Through the project, students learn about the different skills required in the dairy industry in a fun and hands-on way."
Cows Create Careers was originally established in Victoria in 2004 and has since reached 14,245 students.