Over 75 girls and four boys from seven local schools were encouraged to consider careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) when they attended a conference organised by Crosby Soroptimists.
Nine inspirational young women outlined their careers, explaining the entry route into their chosen professions. Their audience of 14-16 year-olds then divided into smaller groups and took the opportunity to questions each of the speakers further.
Plenty of information was available on each of the STEM disciplines and associated careers; plus there were hands-on scientific experiments to try – including creating Lego racing cars.
The contributors:-
- Amanda Hughes, assistant chief engineer for military trainer and transport engine products, Rolls Royce
- Sajni Halai, project engineer at Jaguar Land Rover
- Marianne Thomson, finance and leader development programme manager, BAE Systems
- Katherine Reynolds from the accounts receivable team in military air and information, BAE Systems
- Jessica Jones and Natasha Politt, specialist biomedical scientists, Royal Liverpool University Hospital Trust
- Noelia Pitrelli Vazquez, research officer, St Paul’s Clinical Eye Research Centre, Liverpool
- Nina Finlay, consultant engineer and project co-ordinator
- Caroline Nurse, building structural engineer at ARUP
This was the second STEM conference organised by Soroptimist International Crosby: club members are keen to maintain this strand of project work.
Club President Annette Hughes works in engineering; her daughter Amanda gave one of the presentations. “I am absolutely delighted with the success of the event – feedback from the schools has been extremely positive” said President Annette.
“We really hope the event will have helped when the students make their subject choices for GCSE. It has opened a window on STEM and maybe set some of them on an exciting career path.”
