The William and Ellen Vinten Trust hosted an engineering experience to encourage local Year 10 students to consider careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

The two-day event was designed to give youngsters a taste of how exciting STEM careers are.

A total of 76 students came together to build rockets and make mini F1 cars – and then take part in fun fuelled challenges against each other.

In the rocket challenge, teams had to work in groups to design, develop, test, rework, retest and then complete an assessed launch of a compressed air-powered glider. (The winning group was team Imber).

With the F1 contest, each school group came to the event having already designed and built their very own STEM racing car for an inter-school competition. (STEM racing is a global program for students aged 9-19 to design, build, and race miniature Formula 1 cars).

The winner of this part if the event was Jomet Matthews from Stowmarket High School.

Other prizes and awards were handed out. The Outstanding Student Award went to Caleb Morris from Thurston Community College who impressed the judges with his knowledge of the relevant physics concepts and approach to teamwork. Caleb received a voucher to attend Explore Engineering, a three-day residential course at The University of Bath run by The Smallpiece Trust.

The occasion was supported by the Eastern Education Group, teachers from local schools, and some sixth form STEM ambassadors The event was supported by Eastern Education Group and activities were held at Abbeygate Sixth Form College, University Studies at West Suffolk College and the King Edwards VI Upper School.

The event also included a careers fair - this was attended by local engineering, building, architectural and software companies. Youngsters also got to have a tour of the University’s XR-Lab and Gene Haas Foundation Centre.

Careers talks were given by engineers from Rolls Royce and BAE Systems. And Tom Paren, Graduate Aerodynamicist at BAE Systems and Associate Trustee of the Vinten Trust, described his education and career progression, starting with his own attendance at a Vinten Trust Engineering Experience eleven years ago.

Nadine Payne, Group Director of Careers, Opportunities and Progression at Eastern Education Group said: “We were delighted to be work alongside the William & Ellen Vinten Trust to help put STEM careers in the spotlight by creating some fun and engaging activities for local Year 10 students over the two days in June.

“By using flight and F1 cars, we hope to ignite a spark in some who will then go on and consider working in these exciting fields of employment in the future.”  m/f

Derek Langley, is a retired design Authority for Airborne Reconnaissance with Thales UK and William and Ellen Vinten Trust Trustee who came up with the idea for this activity. He said: “The glider activity is designed to be very open-ended (and difficult!), so that team members work together very organically (rather than conforming to a predefined set of roles), in a true experience of real-world engineering problem solving.”

Rachael Benson, Head of Science at Newmarket Academy. She said: “Seeing the students so enthusiastic about STEM in a new environment and applying cross curricular skills and teamwork designing their own gliders is rewarding to see.”

Luke Vinten – a trustee of the William and Ellen Vinten Trust added: “Stem Racing is a nationwide and global activity, the great thing about it is that kids of all ages can start making cars and learning about aerodynamics. This event has Year 10 students making their cars from a kit, testing their reaction time and growing their understanding of aerodynamics. We’re hoping to inspire local schools to get more involved in STEM Racing though our aim of facilitating an inter-school tournament and possibly those schools could carry it into the regional, national and maybe even global finals.”

Ava Cassidy, 14, is a student at King Edwards VI Upper School student. She said: “We have been able to try out lots of different stuff and speak to loads of different people. It’s been interesting and exciting. The whole idea is to encourage more people into STEM careers and I think it (the day) has worked.”

Oliver Jones, 15 is also a student at King Edwards. He said: “It’s opened your eyes to a lot of new things. I want to do something science related in the future. It (this event) given me a lot of insight.”

Imani from SRL was part of the careers event. She said: “It’s a good thing to expose students to all the opportunities – the more knowledge you have, the more empowered you are to choose something that is really good for you (in the future). My message to young people is a STEM career could be one step away from the next big thing, the next big breakthrough - and that difference could be them.”

Adam Youngman works for MathWorks. He said: “When I was younger I attended this and it helped steer me to a degree in engineering.”

Steve Kenchington worked for Lotus and Vintens and now he is Chair of the William and Ellen Vinten Trust. He said: “We use funds to support students going to university and develop STEM within schools in the Bury area.

“Engineering is falling away a little bit in the UK and globally – so we are trying to make it easier for students to find their way into the industry (of engineering).

“It’s been very positive to hear students say they are now considering careers in STEM. It can be a fulfilling career that can make the world a better place.”