Brooke Harris always thought she was bound to end up working in agriculture. Invercargill born and raised, the self-confessed town girl says her family ran a few sheep and kept their horses with Brooke’s grandparents, who have a few acres at the edge of town.
Brooke shared she never felt pressure from her parents to follow her sisters, who had studied at university, or go down a specific career path. “I had always assumed that I’d end up going farming, but coming into year 12, I just felt a bit lost. I suddenly wasn’t so sure on what I wanted to do and lost a lot of motivation,” she explained.
Brooke’s family are big motorsport fans and she grew up watching V8 supercars. “Bathurst weekend in our house is like Christmas,” she shared. After talking through her interests with the school careers counsellor, the counsellor asked Brooke why she hadn’t thought about becoming a mechanic.
“ ... it's true, I had never thought about it, it wasn’t that I didn’t think of it as an option, it just never crossed my mind. I love anything hands-on and practical, and really enjoy problem-solving,” she says.
Knowing she was a capable learner, and ready to move onto a more mature environment, Brooke looked at doing a level 3 course; an online search found the Light Automotive Engineering level 3 course at SIT, which she enrolled in. Brooke also attended a careers expo with her year 12 class.
“I spoke with a couple people at the expo day and got some more information. I thought this was the best way to get my foot in the door and start making progress towards a career in the motor racing industry as a mechanic.”
SIT was “a very full-on year of learning”, because Brooke hadn’t much practical experience working on cars.
“ ... I had an interest, but unlike most of the other people in the class, it wasn’t like I worked on my car every weekend and went into it with all this prior knowledge, so for me, pretty much everything was new in the course.”
Brooke describes SIT’s light automotive level 3 course as a really great introduction to mechanical work and “definitely a learning curve. It was a big step outside of my comfort zone ... I had to work very hard to keep up and retain all this new knowledge ... “, It was no fault of the tutors or structure of the class, she explains. Feeling she had started “on a bit of a back foot”, it was also quite a step-up from high school, with a new level of self-management and maturity. While she enjoyed the change, it took a while to get into a good routine,” Brooke adds. Looking back, she sees how it really helped her to step up to new challenges.
During the year at SIT, Brooke found there was a lot of support available to students. She was part of the Youth Guarantees Scheme which created connections with other students, and staff would come to check on their progress during classes. “[They’d] help us to set goals and were there to offer support when needed.” Students on the scheme were also offered food and vouchers.
The Zero Fees Scheme and financial support she received during the course were the highlights of Brooke’s time studying. “On top of my course I was already working 30-plus hours a week (she had worked part-time in restaurant, bar, functions and housekeeping at a hotel since high school) to earn and save money, so to have the stress about the course taken away was really great.”
Brooke was awarded an ILT trades scholarship at the end of her course. “Without being told about it and pushed to apply for it by my tutor, I would never have applied for this, and it helped me get started in my apprenticeship with getting tools and more.”
Employed as an Apprentice Mechanic at Leitch Motorsport and Restoration, Brooke started her full-time job there the day after her course finished. Work experience was a course requirement and MITO connected Brooke with the local company when she expressed an interest in motorsport. “I started my work experience in the second week of course and went right through till the end of course, [then] was offered an apprenticeship there.”
Aiming for her qualification to take her as far as she can go (literally) Brooke’s goal is to work overseas as a mechanic in a race team. Originally just going to Australia was something Brooke says she could only dream about, but now it's one of the many options for her future career. She has met so many “amazing” people through work and going to race events, also using social media to reach out to others who work in the motorsport industry.
“When I started, I never imagined any of this would even be a possibility, but I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone to reach out and make connections that have now opened up so many opportunities, from supercars in Australia, to Indy Cars over in America and even work in Europe.”