CAA STEM supports National Careers & British Science Week 2021

Damian McConnochie supported the Inspiring the Future initiative and presented at the Virtual Careers Fair for Newslands Academy in London. The talk was delivered to an audience of 11-16-year olds who have Special Educational and Mental Health needs.

In his talk Damian discussed; what is involved in Aviation Engineering and the diversity of what it’s like to be in this sector. He also spoke about his own personal challenges and the barriers he had to overcome, prompting the question; if someone has a learning difficult does that exclude them for a career in engineering?  He concluded the talk by discussing the different routes available to get into engineering.

Sonya White was interviewed by a teacher as part of their Inspiring Young Learners initiative, on what I do and how I got to my current role (what subjects I studied at school, work experience etc.). It was for Staniland Academy in Lincolnshire – Ages 4-11 (~400 students)

She was one of several people from different sectors, aiming to show there are so many options for STEM careers. The teacher mentioned that often children of that age only know about a limited number of career paths (i.e. teacher, firefighter, doctor etc), so the aim of this was to spotlight some of the less well known.

The students will be giving follow-up questions, and Sonya be sitting on a Q&A panel with the other interviewees later this year.

Rachel Gardner-Pool & Emma Cuddy joint presented a career talk to Davison’s High School in Horsham, Surrey on their career journeys / challenges / and favourite parts of the job.

Kirsten Riensema – prepared a voice over presentation for a week long careers event run by STEM which had 30 other ambassadors and an audience of 300 participants, aged between 11-19

Stuart Rankin has talks scheduled during British Science Week with; St Marks School in Islington, London and St Gregory’s school in Tunbridge Wells, Kent – year 1 (ages 5-6) where he will be talking about Space and Innovation.

Stuart adds; “It is still important for young people to learn about the kinds of jobs that are available in certain sectors and to talk about how everyone is capable of developing skills and working in these areas.  Its important young people see and talk about role models they can connect with and that look like them.  We know that young people can apply stereotypes to themselves or those around them from the age of 3, so early engagement and efforts to battle common stereotypes can have an impact at a very young age and can help influence the career choices of young people.”