The 6th STEM@Work event took place at Canterbury Christ Church University and was attended by eight secondary schools from the Kent and Medway region. The event provided an opportunity for young people to undertake hands-on STEM workshops, run by local STEM Ambassadors and employers. 

The interactive workshops run by STEM Ambassadors were:

• Tik Tok ‘What it’s like to be an Engineer’ Challenge - Amey
• Engineering efficient water networks - South East Water
• Introduction to Intensive Horticulture  - APS Growers Ltd
• Engineering for Light and Motion! - The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)
• Making Toothpaste – Maria
• Rollercoasters - STEM Enrichment Partnership Hub South East
• Wax worm races, does temperature effect speed? – NRP coordinator
• Chemical Challenge - The STEM Hub

All groups attended 4 workshops across the morning and the event ended with an amazing STEM talk by Stephen from AWE.

Stephen who is a chartered Explosives Engineer titled this talk as his “Banging Career”. Stephen started working with explosives at the age of 13 on large public firework displays and became a qualified bomb disposal engineer while still at school! The presentation followed Stephen’s career and how he progressed from stage to stage through random happenstance, his own will and determination, plus in some cases sheer luck. Stephen explored the support and training that is now available to enable young people to follow a STEM career in ordnance munitions and explosives.

We are grateful for the support of the organisations and individuals who took part; without whom we would not have been able to organise this event.

All the groups has at least one STEM Ambassador who acted as a school facilitator. This is a vital role as it helps to ensure the smooth running of the event, and gives the students an additional role model to support them.

We would like to thank all of the STEM Ambassadors who gave up their time to help.

Feedback from STEM Ambassadors leading the workshops:

• “We had a super time at STEM@Work, and we want to thank all of the teachers and students who came to see us to have a chat about engineering, to build some torches, and of course to fire some table tennis balls at us!
  We thought the students would like how learning about engineering can (sometimes) include things that they might normally be told off for, like firing balls around the room, being noisy and chaotic, building things and breaking things. Of course, they were all mature enough to discuss their thoughts on how they could improve these devices, to make them easier to use, and more accurate, and waterproof, and the ideas that we had for problem-solving were fantastic!
  It was a great opportunity for us to spend time with the next generation of engineers. Thank you to all of the schools who attended, and a huge thank you to The STEM Hub for looking after us!”
  (Phil Moffitt delivering Engineering for Light and Motion!)
• “Once again a pleasure to host a workshop during the recent STEM@Work event. Always refreshing to have a new cohort of bright young minds ready to listen, learn and challenge back. Thanks to the STEM team for supporting, encouraging, and enabling such events”
  (Chris delivering Introduction to Intensive Horticulture)
• “It was a pleasure to meet such enthusiastic young people, who were happy to engage practically in the toothpaste investigation, whilst also developing their scientific observational skills and  general skills of scientific enquiry”.
  (Maria delivering Toothpaste workshop)

Feedback from schools:

• “Our Year 8 cohort had a fantastic time at the STEM event at CCCU.  This was a first taster of different types of STEM and they were not disappointed.  All the staff were friendly and welcoming and the workshops were entertaining and thought provoking. We had a great day that linked in with our careers curriculum.”
• “A huge thank you for today! We absolutely loved it.”
• “‘STEM@Work 2022’ was a great event, showcasing a broad range of fun and interactive workshops, reflecting the diversity of engineering career paths.  I wish I had this opportunity when I was at school!”.

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