![NSW EPA CEO Tony Chappel with Dubbo school leavers Dominic Clifford, Amelia Orth and Sophie Rindfleish. Picture by Allison Hore NSW EPA CEO Tony Chappel with Dubbo school leavers Dominic Clifford, Amelia Orth and Sophie Rindfleish. Picture by Allison Hore](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/137578502/3b79225e-df0c-4a4b-aa5f-07edde749c71.jpg/r0_305_4032_3029_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
When most people think of gap years they might picture travelling the world or going backpacking around the country.
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But for three Dubbo high school leavers, their gap year is set to look a bit different.
Dominic Clifford, Sophie Rindfleish and Amelia Orth were selected through a competitive application process to spend their gap year seeing what a career in environmental science could look like at the state Environment Protection Authority's Dubbo office.
"I wanted to try to help make the world a better place, I think everyone has to do their part to help the natural world and I thought this was the best opportunity to get to do that," Mr Clifford, who graduated from St John's College last year, said.
"Applying was a no-brainer really. It's an eye-opener."
Ms Orth, who completed her studies at Dubbo College, said a gap year with the EPA will give her, and the other inductees, a head start in their studies and future careers.
"As a young girl and even teenager I've always loved caring for the environment and I did earth and environmental science in school and I want to study it at uni, and this opportunity came up and I thought it looked amazing," she said.
"I'm excited to learn about what [a career like this] involves and know this is for sure what I want to do."
For Ms Rindfleish - also a St John's College graduate - working at the EPA will build on knowledge about disaster response that she has gained through volunteering with the SES.
"I love that aspect of helping the community and this is an opportunity to help engage with the community and better the environment as well," she said.
"Coming in as an operations assistant will really give us some first-hand experience in the real world of what does happen - I'm really looking forward to just developing my skills."
NSW EPA CEO Tony Chappel said bringing school leavers into the EPA would not just help the students but would also provide the agency with fresh perspectives and invaluable local knowledge.
"[They're bringing] fresh eyes and coming in without any sort of historical baggage or practice or how we do things. These people are the future of the EPA," he said.
"We hope this program is the start of a long-term career for those of them who want to pursue it. We get people coming in at all stages but there's a real focus now on bringing through talent and helping grow our regional footprint at the same time.
"When we think of a really complex challenge like climate change where we have to engage with every sector, having people who have walked in those shoes or who have friends and neighbours who are in primary production, really helps us with the empathy and it helps us with the understanding and passion to help farmers improve their sustainability and productivity."
As well as understanding the local community, the new starters will come into their roles with lived experience of the consequences of environmental damage, Mr Chappel said.
"We're living today with the consequences of pretty catastrophic weather events and one of the EPA's roles is to lead the environmental recovery after disasters - whether that's the fish kill in Menindee or floods or fires we've seen," he said.
During their year in the EPA, the school leavers will work with the EPA to engage with local industry - including agriculture, mining and manufacturing - to help them improve their practices and work towards a more sustainable future.
"We have some really big ambitions as a community to get to a zero carbon economy but also what we call a circular economy where 80 percent of our resources and nutrients cycle," said Mr Chappel.
"There are lots of businesses doing really impressive things in this area and we can't solve this alone as a government agency - nor can the whole of government - we can only do it if we also harness insights from business and the community as well.
"We'll always be the regulator holding people to a standard but there's another relationship we need to have which is that collaborative innovation and enabling future sources of prosperity."
The three Dubbo gap year students are just some of many new starters at EPA regional offices across the state. They said they are "very excited" to leap into their new roles.
"I'm really looking forward to the hands-on component of it, going out into the field and doing testing. I know very little about the surrounding environment around me and by learning more about the environment I can spread awareness as well," said Ms Orth.
"I'm looking forward to making connections with the community and working with primary producers and helping them become more productive and effective while I'm helping to better the effect they have on the environment," added Mr Clifford.
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