For student Matilda Jones the expo introduced her to jobs she had never heard of.

"I talked to three people from marketing, construction and an engineer and it was really good because I had not really hard of them before so it widened my knowledge of different options," she said.

Although she has her sights firmly on becoming a doctor, Matilda enjoyed exploring different occupations.

"It's really important because a lot of people are now aware of the different options they've got, and the different things that can suit them in terms of a career ... and I think it's good to do this, especially in year nine when we are picking electives."

The addition of visual and performing arts to the more traditional STEM subject areas this year was to help cater for students' varying interests and to highlight the crossover of arts in to more traditional STEM occupations.

Arts learning area leader Naomi Olthof said art programs were integral to developing students' higher learning skills and have been proven to increase creativity, improve academic performance, increase motor skills, enhance visual learning, and boost higher decision-making skills.

"Including the arts in this STEAM expo exposes our students to a wider range of future career opportunities and helps them make more informed subject selections for future planning."

Event organiser and science learning area leader Ivanka Saric said around 190 year nine students had spent time with six to eight of the 30 'STEAM gurus' who were past students, current or past parents of Damascus students and members of the wider community who were working or studying in STEAM areas.

"Students have been really engaged this year. I've noticed them having conversations with the speakers rather than sitting around with them and listening to them speak or looking at props or computer simulations, they've really engaged with questions and conversations about the job," Ms Saric said.

Students met a broad range of career representatives, not just from jobs they were potentially interested in, to broaden their knowledge about future options.

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"If we give them a choice they choose careers they are familiar with and all want to talk to the nurse, paramedic or psychologist because that's what they know about, but they won't necessarily go to the systems and safety engineer working for the Australian Defence Force but they are loving talking to her so it's broadening their experience," she said.

"It is a great opportunity to introduce these disciplines to students in year nine so that they consider these subjects when heading into year 10 and their senior years.

"It is also fantastic to see past students return to Damascus to speak to current students about their occupation. The passion and enthusiasm they have for their job is contagious and the students walk away with a greater understanding and appreciation for a breadth of career options."

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