When Kelly Scherbath began her school traineeship in 2015 she had no idea of how it would help her career take off.
Kelly started her journey in the Recreation and Trails unit, maintaining many of the long walk trails and mountain biking tracks around WA.
She then rotated to Parks and Visitor Services, who have the responsibility of managing all the parks throughout WA.
Her last rotation was in Fire Management. There, she did geographic information system work and spatial mapping.
At the end of her 2 year traineeship, she was offered full time work.
“A career highlight for me at the moment is I get to fly in planes over prescribed burns and operate some thermal camera equipment.”
Not only is this an exciting job using some specialised equipment, the data Kelly collects is vital to help the department protect our environment and communities from wildfires.
Kelly has advice for her younger self and others thinking about whether to do the program.
“Now that I have been through the program, I would tell my younger self that even though it might seem daunting at the moment because of your young age, definitely don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone.”
