We Can Engineer It- Family Day

Saturday 15th October was a busy day on the Bangor campus as approximately 40 young girls eagerly explored the world of engineering as part of the “You Can Engineer It” Family Day in the Bangor campus Sports Hall.  The Institute of Engineering and Technology kindly funded the event which was aimed specifically at encouraging more young females to consider engineering as a career.  Engineering and Manufacturing are acknowledged as skills gap areas in Northern Ireland and with a significant gender imbalance, there will be plenty of opportunities for young females in these areas in the next 10-15 years.

Many of the attendees entered the “Design a Robot” competition and some of the entries were incredibly imaginative and inventive.  Members of the student Engineering Society, Chloe Geddes and Mitchell Regan were on hand to choose the winners which was an incredibly difficult task. 

Pictured above are some of the winners from the day, L-R Erin Brown, Elenya Spence, Circe Spence and Charlotte Shields

The families participated in a series of engineering challenges, experiments and activities including building towers and bridges, assembling and flying gliders, exploring gears and levers. Concentration was evident on lots of the children’s faces as they figured out how to solve some of the challenges and some very creative approaches were employed.

Cheers erupted as their solutions were tested and proved successful and the hubbub of activity in the hall was a joy to behold.  Many of the parents, grandparents and guardians enjoyed the activities with some saying that it took them back several years and many took the opportunity to explain how things worked to their children.  In some cases, the adults were instructed to “back off, I’m doing it!” by determined young ladies.

There were company representatives from Lakeland Dairies (Vicki and Lindsay) and Denroy (Claire Anderson) pop in to explain the types of jobs that engineers do for them and they very generously brought some sample products along for the attendees. A lot was packed in, and after 7 hours, 40ish children and over 12,000 steps, staff helpers went home exhausted but very happy to have been part of such an enjoyable and worthwhile event.