Girls into Engineering

Female S2 pupils from across Ayrshire came together at Ayrshire College’s Ayr Campus on Monday 18 June for a ‘Girls Into Engineering’ taster day organised by the College and SmartSTEMS and supported by EDF Energy.

200 pupils attended the event, which was part of the College’s This Ayrshire Girl Can campaign and was delivered ahead of International Women into Engineering Day (23 June), in partnership with SmartSTEMS, a Scottish charitable organisation which seeks to encourage more diversity in STEM.

Katie Waddell, a Mechanical Engineer at Thales, delivered an impressive presentation to start the event. Katie started her studies at Ayrshire College and spoke to the group about what interested her in engineering and how she worked towards her dream career.

The school groups then split up to attend three workshops throughout the day. There were 16 different workshops delivered by Ayrshire College staff and partner agencies, including aeronautical engineering, computer coding and augmented reality sessions.

The activities were delivered by Ayrshire College, the Forestry Commission, JP Morgan, Police Scotland, the Royal Navy, Seric Systems and Skylab. Pupils also interacted with exhibitors at the event.

Ayrshire College vice principal, Jackie Galbraith said “Our This Ayrshire Girl Can campaign helps girls and women to learn about and try out exciting learning and career opportunities in areas like digital technologies, science and engineering. Working with organisations like SmartSTEMs enables us to tap into a wide range of expertise in these areas.”