Dedicated STEM ambassador and VES Chief Engineer Andrea, along with other volunteers were recently helping schoolchildren at an IET (Institute of Engineering and Technology) Faraday Challenge event, hosted by Hutton Grammar School in Preston, Lancashire, UK.
The event is an annual competition aimed at 12–13-year-olds, where hundreds of schools take part in various engineering challenges across the UK, competing to hopefully reach the final, held in the summer months. In this challenge, Andrea played the role of shopkeeper and kept track of the six team’s budgets and ensured they tallied up at the end of the tasks. She was then proud to be part of the judging team assessing the presentations and prototypes to specific criteria.
The winning team from each event will take home a voucher for themselves as well as gaining a place on the national league table. The top five teams at the end of the season will be treated to an all-expenses-paid trip to the final, as well as a chance of taking home £1,000 for their school to spend on STEM activities.
Last year’s challenge was in association with the UKRI’s Future Flight Challenge and tasked teams to design a prototype that could support UKRI’s Future Flight Challenge with regards to accessibility and ease of use, safety and impact on the environment.
Well done and good luck to everyone who takes part this season!
