Guernsey Press

Students find out about a career in engineering

SECONDARY SCHOOL students were given an opportunity to find out about careers in science, technology and engineering at the College of Further Education annual Inwed event.

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Pictured at Inwed at Les Ozouets Campus are, left to right, Katie Anderson and Harly Carreia, both 15, Grace Lanoe, 14, Lillie-May Hawkins and Patience Ogier, both 15. (Picture by Cassidy Jones, 29672222)

The International Women in Engineering Day event featured presentations and demonstrations by women in engineering at a variety of Guernsey businesses.

More than 200 secondary school students were invited to the event, hosted by the college and its engineering department.

The event, which is in its fifth year, was forced online in 2020. Programme lead for engineering at the college Mark Pratt thanked the day’s sponsors for continued support throughout the difficult period.

‘It was successful for those who engaged with it,’ Mr Pratt said of the previous year, which saw students submitting video attempts at challenges set by a panel of expert judges.

He was hopeful the event could rebound from its lower attendance in 2020, with a number of new partners such as Aurigny having signed up.

Several female pilots and engineers represented the airline, along with a mobile fuselage which was used to provide hands-on demonstrations to the students.

As part of their participation, Aurigny had also sponsored two students from Alderney to travel over to Guernsey to attend the event. Other activities taking place included racing solar-powered model cars, a programmable robotic arm and a demonstration of how CCTV surveillance systems operate.

Students from all of the island’s secondary schools attended.

Blanchelande student Patience Ogier, 15, said the day had opened her eyes to new potential careers, such as working as a marine engineer or biologist.

‘My parents had mentioned Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) to me as a career, so when I came home and said there’s an engineering day they said I should go and see what it was like.’

Violet Graham, 15, from the Grammar School, said: ‘I quite like maths and physics in school, but I’d never really thought about actually being an engineer.’

Violet was pleased to see opportunities such as Inwed on offer in Guernsey.

‘Within Stem courses, girls are still under-represented so it’s never going to be a bad thing to try and inspire girls into that field.’

Representatives from the companies presenting at the day stressed how important such initiatives were to their organisations and the field in general.

Guernsey Electricity communications lead Alice Gill said: ‘It’s definitely a focus for the business, because having a diverse workforce means you get a diverse thinking process and different solutions.’