Personal Information

Name: Samuel Drew
Student ID: s3921243
Email: s3921243@student.rmit.edu.au
Nationality: Australian Culture: Anglo-Celtic Australian
Education: Bachelor of Visual Arts, Graduate Diploma of Education (Federation University), Bachelor of Information Technology (studying at RMIT).
Languages: English, Korean (learning)

Background: I was born, raised and lived most of my life in regional Victoria, on the outskirts of Ballarat. My primary education was in a small country school and secondary education at an independent school in Ballarat. I was influenced with a creative streak from my father’s home-based pottery business, which lead me to study a ceramics course at TAFE then later apply and switch to the University of Ballarat (now Federation Uni) to finally attain my Bachelor degree in Visual Arts.

At a loose end having completed my degree and returning from a short stint living and working in Ireland, I proceeded to study for and gain my secondary teaching qualification back at the University of Ballarat. After completing a short teaching contract locally, It wasn’t long before I took off to South Korea to teach English in an after-school academy school. It was there that I met my wife, married and we had our handsome son. We moved back and forth to Australia and finally decided to make a life back here in Ballarat, Australia, where I have been a technology teacher for the past 12 years.

Interesting Fact: My teaching methods at university were Visual Arts and Visual Arts, which was kind of limiting. I had learned of another visual arts-teaching student who enrolled himself in some joinery units at TAFE to help skill himself up, to get a foot in the door as a woodwork teacher (technology teacher). I followed suit and was snapped up at a local public school on a contract. On my return from an English teaching position in South Korea, I landed a job as a welding/metal work teacher with next to no experience and had to teach myself the skills to teach the students, somehow.

I soon came to the realisation that metal working was not for me, being way to dirty and dangerous for my liking or skill level. Luckily, I saw an opportunity during an internal department reshuffled and moved across to take electronics, which I loved, but new very little about it, at the time. Everything I know in this field has been self-taught and I’m still learning after 12 years, which is why I’m enjoying it so much. This has included learning about circuits and integrated circuit design, Printed Circuit Board making at home, 3D printing, Robotics and a range of programming skills.