27th June 2019
Arkwright Scholar soars on International Women in Engineering Day
To celebrate 100 years of the Women’s Engineering Society in the UK, national STEM education charity The Smallpeice Trust is enabling 100 female future leaders in engineering to inspire the next generation of engineers by giving them a free powered glider Think Kit.
The 100 female future leaders in engineering are all Arkwright Engineering Scholars who exhibit leadership potential and have been identified as inspirational role models via The Smallpeice Trust’s rigorous selection process.
As a result of this rigorous selection process, an Arkwright Engineering Scholarship is the most prestigious scholarship of its type in the UK.
As part of The Smallpeice Trust’s commitment to enabling 100 new STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) clubs for girls, the charity presented the first Think Kit to current Arkwright Engineering Scholar and Didcot Girls’ School student Alice Bracher. Alice, aged 17, is an Arkwright Engineering Scholar sponsored by The RAF Charitable Foundation.
The Think Kit provided by The Smallpeice Trust, which is the largest national STEM education charity in the UK, contains all the project materials Alice will need to lead 20 younger students at Didcot Girls’ School in a new STEM Club, and includes structured session plans, worksheets and guidance videos.
Alice, who is studying maths, further maths and physics – and hopes to pursue a career in aerospace or astronautics – said: “The experience I have had with my Arkwright Engineering Scholarship has been fantastic.
“The opportunity to help other younger students in my school to be inspired about engineering and for me to proactively encourage more females to take up STEM subjects is very rewarding and I’m looking forward to seeing the results.
“I am sure I will gain as much from the experience, as will the participants in the STEM Club. I am grateful to The Smallpeice Trust for this opportunity”
Dr Kevin P Stenson, CEO of The Smallpeice Trust, said:
“Given that only 11% of the UK engineering workforce is female – and that the UK has the lowest percentage of female engineering professionals in Europe – The Smallpeice Trust is delighted to be enabling the creation of 100 STEM Clubs for girls on International Women in Engineering Day 2019. We see this as a fantastic way to celebrate 100 years of the Women’s Engineering Society in the UK.
“The UK needs more female students to want to fulfil their potential via a career in engineering, and inspiration and engagement opportunities is central to this.
“No one meeting brilliant Arkwright Engineering Scholars like Alice can fail to be inspired by them and their incredible potential.”
