High hopes for aviation student
26 November 2009
By Rebecca Perry
High flyer ... Emily Treacy from Brisbane's Aviation High with her Our Women, Our State award.
At just 17, Emily Treacy's aviation career is taking off.
She has her student pilot's licence, flown solo, set up a support group for future fliers and won a prestigious Australian Defence Force Academy Education Award - and she doesn't even have her driver's licence.
Graduating from Year 12 at Aviation High in Clayfield this year, Emily has added another honour to her soaring list of achievements, winning the Secondary Student category in the Our Women, Our State Awards.
Presented by the State Government's Office for Women, the awards showcase successful women and girls working in science, engineering and technology.
Aviation is a male-dominated industry but I am getting used to it,' Emily said.
'I have always wanted to work in this area and it has been great to get a head start on my career while I have been at school.'
Emily hopes to become an airfield engineering officer for the Royal Australian Air Force - a job she explains as 'being like a project officer looking after an airbase'.
'I am hoping to do a four-year Bachelor of Engineering degree in Canberra and then I can be posted anywhere,' she said.
'The sky is the limit.'
Picked from a host of competitive entries, Emily's prize included $3000, a trophy and a certificate.
Two other Queensland schoolgirls were awarded in the Secondary Student category: Year 12 student Taelah Nardoo from Spinifex State College in Mount Isa was highly commended and Nanango State High School Year 8 student Roxanne Guerin from Kingaroy received an encouragement certificate.
For more information on the awards, visit the website 
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