Outlearning is one of the most important aspects of Big Picture.
It’s essential that every student get out and do some learning outside of class, not just stay in class all the time.
During my time in Big Picture, I’ve gone to several events and work experience opportunities, and have two ongoing internships.
2023
AIE Internship
In week 7 of term 2, I went on a week-long internship at AIE, where we learnt the basics of making games, like how to use Unreal Engine 4 and Autodesk Maya. I talk about it more in my presentation you can find here.
We made simple character models with Autodesk Maya, and added some stuff to an example project with Unreal Engine 4. It was honestly really cool learning those tools, as I’d never used them before, and since I had pretty limited experience with 3D modelling software / game engines too, I learnt a ton of new stuff.
UTS Tech Fest
In week 9 of term 2, I attended the Quantum Hackathon at the annual UTS Tech Fest.
The Quantum Hackathon event spanned two days and we were tasked with making a game that utilised quantum mechanics in some way shape or form.
We got a bit of an introduction to quantum mechanics, like how qubits worked and how we could apply logic to them, and we were also given some sample projects on how to use them.
You can read more about it in my presentation here.
I ended up making a small version of chess, with a 5x5 board instead of 8x8, but I unfortunately didn’t have enough time to implement any of the actual quantum mechanics parts.. so I kinda didn’t do what we were meant to at all BUT it was still a fun experience making the chess game and it was cool seeing what everyone else built :3
UTS Startup Summit
In term 2, I also went to the UTS Startups Summit, which is a (sort of) yearly event run by UTS to inspire and motivate year 9-10 students about what you can do in tech.
We heard from other year 10 students that had already started online businesses, and some other young entrepreneurs too about what they’ve been able to do.
The event was hosted at the Sydney ICC, and while it was a bit boring at times, I took away a lot of really valuable information from the event.
You can read more here.
UTS Open Day
In term 3 my dad and I went to the UTS Open Day, and explored what sort of courses they had available. We talked to one of the people there about possibly getting a scholarship, although it would be quite difficult considering that I wouldn’t have an ATAR upon graduation, but he recognised the “unique situation” that I was in, where I’d have a diploma before even graduating school and he said that we’d be able to contact him for help with trying to get some sort of scholarship at UTS.
You can read more here.