Harry Parker

Petroleum Engineering
“It keeps me focused on what I need to do over the next four years” 

Since Year 10, Harry Parker has known he wanted a career in engineering: he just wasn’t sure which field to go into. Then an open day at Adelaide University in Year 11 opened his eyes to petroleum engineering.
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“I like the fact it is industry-based so it’s different to going down the electrical or mechanical engineering route,” he says. “When I went to the talks at the open day and spoke to a few graduates, they said they enjoyed that aspect as well.”
With petroleum engineering as his first preference, Parker started his degree course at Adelaide University earlier this year. And while he has recently been forced to study from home due to coronavirus restrictions, it hasn’t dampened his enthusiasm. “I’m enjoying every week of the course: it’s a bit different studying at home but I still feel motivated to do it every day,” he says.

Part of that motivation comes from the pride Parker feels in being a Playford Trust Scholarship recipient. “It keeps me focused on what I need to do over the next four years,” the 19-year-old says. “And financially, it makes a huge difference: I’m using it to pay for course books and putting it towards my HECS debt, which will now be a lot easier to manage at the end of my studies.”
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Parker is as yet undecided which career path he will follow upon graduation but hopes to be able to take advantage of any opportunities to work in different countries. “That’s part of what gained my interest in petroleum engineering,” he says. “I’m not particularly set on any country at this stage: just anywhere around the world would be pretty cool.”