Last Wednesday, 13 Soroptimists gathered at Staffordshire University, Lichfield Campus for this popular event. It is held to encourage girls into the STEM subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Over 80 girls from Year 9-11 attended from The Friary, King Edwards Lichfield, Cheslyn Hay, Nether Stowe and Clayton Hall in North Staffordshire. There was a buzz in the Lecture Hall as proceedings were about to begin.
Lichfield Soroptimist Ellie, a highways engineer, welcomed the girls and staff from the schools and introduced the workshop providers, JCB, Perkins Engines, Smallpeice Trust, Staffordshire University Forensics Dept. and Computing Games Dept The event is in partnership with Entrust, South Staffs College and Staffordshire University.
Carrying their folder of information and wearing colour coded lanyards for their groups, the girls attended 3 of the 5 workshops each. Chris and Maureen have been taking the lead on this annual event and this year, I was able to help in a small way with collating information into folders. The organisation necessary for the day to go smoothly was staggering and some group changes had to be made at 9pm the night before as 5 more girls were booked in at the last minute! The workshops were about fun, working in teams and problem solving and all the girls joined in with enthusiasm.
The day ran beautifully smoothly and Maureen is in the process of collating the review sheets. To make this day extra special for us, Soroptimist International Federation President Elect Margaret Emsley attended for the whole day as did Midland Chase Region President Carol Bailey. Margaret gave the closing address as an engineer herself and said that even if the girls did not choose the STEM subjects, they should look more broadly at the career choices available to them.
The girls were a credit to their schools and as they were mixed together, worked alongside peers from other schools. The schools have the date for next year and are keen to come. We can say lots about each of the workshops – contact us if you would like to know more. The Planning Guide written for Lichfield Club for this project is now available on the main SIGBI website.
