LotusWorks continued its support for #EngineeringWeek with a number of activities, with teams in North America and Ireland visiting three schools including Kyrene De Las Manitas in Arizona, Dromiskin National School in Louth and the Mercy School Sligo to celebrate the world of engineering.
LotusWorks kicked off Engineers Week with a visit to 4th Grade at Kyrene De Las Manitas in Arizona. LotusWorkers Cody Dodd, Karen Duffy, and Gareth Robinson, talked about their jobs as Engineers with LotusWorks. The students also had a chance to put their engineering skills to the test by building a tall structure with marshmallows and spaghetti.
Engineers week in the US is promoted by DiscoverE. Recent data published by the organization stated that “74% of teachers think students do not have enough opportunities to meet with an engineer or technical professional during their time in school”.
Engineers Week in Ireland is now in its 14th year and in 2019 involved more than 800 activities which were attended by over 99,000 participants.
LotusWorks visited two schools in Ireland over the course of the week. Site Lead, Alwyn Love shared his knowledge and experience of engineering with the students at Dromiskin National School in Louth.
The LotusWorks Marketing team visited the all-girls secondary school, Mercy College in Sligo. Marketing Specialist Laura and Marketing Assistant Amber spoke to transition year students about all things engineering including; the different types of engineering, key skills, how it impacts our daily lives, pathways into the profession and finished by putting the girls engineering ingenuity to the test with a building challenge.
Promoting STEM to female students is essential – recent studies completed by graduates show that just 13% of engineering graduates and 4% of engineering apprentices were female. LotusWorks Marketing Director Emer Conroy spoke of the opportunities available within engineering as a career; “Engineering is such a brilliantly diverse profession and touches all areas of our daily lives. We seldom think about who designed a device or how it does what it does. Engineer’s Week is the opportunity to promote the brilliance of engineering and the change engineering buildings and devices bring to our lives.”
As another busy engineering week draws to a close for 2020, it’s clear to see the future of the engineering profession looks bright and is in safe hands.