Powder handling and dry solids processing experts, Spiroflow, has recently announced its commitment to young people development and learning by registering two members of their senior management team as STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Ambassadors. Sales director, James Podevyn, and development engineer, Craig Hollings, will be actively involved in encouraging and inspiring young people to progress further in STEM subjects. The firm’s announcement coincides with British Science Week, which takes place from 9-18 March 2018 (#BSW18).
As a business that employs a number of young engineers, Spiroflow understands the importance for their, and the wider industry’s future, by ensuring the danger of skills shortages are mitigated.
“It is our collective responsibility to protect the future of engineering and we want share our passion for our industry with tomorrow’s talent,” commented James Podevyn. “To that end we’ll be taking students to different engineering companies to give a comprehensive background of all types of engineering from ‘nuclear’ to how car windscreens are made and tested; conducting mock interviews with college students; mentoring students to ensure they have enough information about the future path they want to take and give guidance to help them achieve this. And in September, we’ll be collaborating with 3rd year university students on their final year projects by giving them real world problems and working alongside them to develop a useful final project.”
The STEM learning programme (www.stem.org.uk) reaches 100% of UK secondary schools and further education colleges, plus 75% of primary schools, with approximately 2 million young people engaging with STEM learning programmes annually. After working with STEM Ambassadors, STEM learning has said that 90% of young people increase their engagement with STEM as a result.
“Engineering has helped create the complex technical systems that make modern life possible and reinforcing this significance with young people through being STEM Ambassadors, tomorrow’s talent can help the industry evolve even further. We are delighted to be part of this powerful initiative,” added Podevyn.
