This February half-term, me and twenty-two other likeminded Year 10s from London and the Home Counties met to experience a three-day “Routes Into STEM” course. The course, ran by EDT, provides STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) enrichment for young people in the UK. Careers in STEM are changing rapidly as new technology is being developed and so skills needed to meet these new technical challenges are in greater demand. However, there is also an increasing number of ways to train for these careers. EDT set up their courses with the aim to establish links between education and industry, and help organisations reach out to talented engineers and scientists. This means we will all have the best opportunities, because, after all, WE are the future of STEM.
On the first day, we visited the College of North West London, where we were given the chance speak to young people training there as apprentices in the STEM field. This was eye-opening because we were shown a perspective into an alternate Route into STEM, as opposed to the traditional Uni path. Many of us had never considered an apprenticeship, so we could see the huge advantages of doing one, such as being paid by a company whilst you learn, having a more hands-on approach and having no debts when you’ve finished. We also got the opportunity to try out the College’s state of the art Design Tech workshop and computer labs.
Day two, probably my favourite, was at the University of Westminster, Cavendish Campus. The day started off with an activity that showed us how extensive the STEM field is (we were able to find over 60 types of university engineering courses!) Following this, we had an insightful talk about presentation skills and body-language. I found this extremely valuable and I try to use all the things I learnt whenever I speak in public. In the afternoon, we had taster sessions using Augmented Reality, where we created immersive, computer-generated environments in the real world, and then UNREAL gaming software to programme a video game. We got to play around with the graphics, colours and textures, as well as the motion of our avatar. which introduced us to the technology aspects of STEM.
We had the privilege of visiting the Crossrail site in Abbey Road, on the third day, where we were given a special tour around Europe’s biggest building project. “I feel so lucky to be able to look around such an important place”, said one student present on the course. Having completed the course, we were presented to certificates to mark we had graduated as Industrial Cadet of Level 1 Bronze.
I thoroughly enjoyed this insightful course, which broadened my interest in STEM, and I look forward to signing up to one of EDT’s many courses to further inspire me.
By Angela Okafor
