Bournemouth Soroptimists were delighted to support the RNLI’s Women’s Network to celebrate National Women in Engineering Day 2016 which took place on 23rd June.
Having been inspired by Bournemouth Soroptimists STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) Challenge, in which they formed part of the judging panel, the RNLI Women’s Network decided to set a ‘Safety Message challenge’ to girls at local schools.
The prestigious event was held at the RNLI headquarters in Poole where the girls were encouraged to design a ‘cool safety message when on the water which will appeal to young people’. The event began with a list of famous women inventors in STEM based industries but who were also from creative backgrounds and the UN Sustainable Development goals were promoted. To inspire the students further they visited the ‘Ideas Room’ where ideas were discussed to make a safer ‘sea bubble’ which could ferry people to their workplace. In the ‘Careers Room’ they took a quiz to determine their strengths in STEM based careers and the opportunities available to them and in the ‘Inspiration Room’ they met a lifejacket designer. Finally they toured the factory where lifeboats are built and were informed of the different stages of engineering required in boatbuilding.
RNLI Sustainability Manager, Anna Frizzell, was thrilled with the event and thanked Soroptimist International Bournemouth for their support, “it was interesting watching the girls come out of their shells and joining in the activities this morning and it has been a pleasure for the RNLI Women’s Network to take the opportunity to interact with young women who can be our future engineers and designers.”
Soroptimist International Bournemouth invited teachers to an Information Evening to be held at Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, 6.30 pm on Wednesday 14 September 2016 in advance of their fifth annual STEM Challenge for Girls in Years 8 and 9.
For more information please contact SI Bournemouth at stemsibournemouth@gmail.com