Across the month of August, young people from all over Staffordshire came together to participate in the Next Engineers Engineering Camp. Participants were immersed in the engineering design process and completed design challenges inspired by real-world scenarios. The young engineers forged connections that sparked their curiosity and transformed them into enthusiastic explorers for the future!
From building the tallest tower to support a golf ball as high off the ground as possible, to building their own very big wheel out of spaghetti and designing a way to safely drop a cup of water from a height of at least 2 metres whilst spilling as little water as possible, our young people were well and truly tested across the fortnight. Our facilitators were blown away by the young people’s determination and application of engineering concepts and had a tough time when awarding our “Engineer of the Day!”.
A particular highlight of each week was the field trip to Staffordshire University and GE Vernova site, which sparked our young people’s interest in higher education and career paths within their chosen engineering routes.
Alongside a fantastic facilitation team and GE volunteers, we were also pleased to be joined by Xanthe and Emily, recent graduates of GE Academy Cohort 1. Xanthe and Emily were a real asset to the GE Academy and were a wonderful addition to our facilitation team, passing on their real-life experience and knowledge to our aspiring engineers.
Xanthe said, “I have enjoyed helping out at the summer school as I have been able to put the skills and knowledge I have learnt from my own Academy experience to good use. I have loved seeing how each team comes up with such unique ideas as they are all tasked with the same problem but the final ideas are all completely different! I have loved teaching people that you will fail sometimes but that doesn’t mean you can give up. You have to learn to fail fast. That way you can learn from your mistakes to make your final product as good as it can be”.
Emily added, “I have also loved helping out at the summer school. Seeing the kids come in with such curiosity and interest in the course makes helping out worth it. I have enjoyed the range of jobs I have had while volunteering, from setting up to being a shop assistant there is always something fun to do. The tasks that the kids have done have been so fun and exciting to help with and I am so pleased that I had this opportunity”.
Of course, programmes rely upon the support of parents and guardians and we were thrilled to welcome them to the showcase event on the Friday afternoon. Our young people showcased their ideas and prototypes to their nearest and dearest, before taking to the stage and presenting their findings from the week in their groups. Each participant confidently took to the stage and demonstrated their passion for engineering through engaging presentations to our audience. A huge congratulations to each of our participants!
As the 24/25 UK academic year starts, we are now beginning our Staffordshire school delivery sessions as part of the Next Engineers Discovery programme. The Discovery programme is an amazing opportunity for Year 9 pupils to expand their engineering knowledge and is free to schools in Staffordshire. To learn more about the programme and book in a school session, contact nextengineers@tilg.co.uk.
