The JCB Academy hosted its annual ‘Women into Engineering’ event, welcoming over 200 pupils from 35 primary schools in Staffordshire and Derbyshire over five days in July. The event aims to raise the profile of women in engineering and encourage girls to explore career opportunities in this field.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the event, more than 50 pupils from four schools attended, along with 20 female engineers from academy partners who volunteered their time to inspire the pupils. The event began with an informative session, followed by two engineering challenges: the egg crash and tower building challenges.
The egg crash challenge was a hit among the participants, where girls designed a protective enclosure for an egg using various materials, which was then secured to a physics dynamic cart and released down a ramp to crash into a wall. The girls decorated and personalised their egg with smiley faces, adding to the excitement of the challenge.
The JCB Academy facilitated the event, with assistance from their Y10 and Y12 learners and female engineers from JCB, Toyota UK, Rolls-Royce, Loughborough University, Bentley Motors, Harper Adams University, Institute of Engineering Technology, Royal Academy of Engineering, Williams F1 Racing and more. The event was sponsored by JCB, who provided each girl with a goodie-bag, and financial support from Loughborough University and The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) ensured that the event was cost-free for all participating schools.