Volunteers from Ada in Porlock completed this year’s support to our local schools with a range of activities at Minehead Middle School and West Somerset College.
Minehead Middle School careers morning
The competition for attention was fierce in this high intensity “speed dating” format. Ada in Porlock’s Kathryn and David, with decades of industrial experience between them, joined with the police, the Environment Agency, an estate agent and a makeup artist among the others answering questions from a well-engaged group of over 140 students The pupils had prepared questions about opportunities in Work in Science and Technology which varied a lot between the groups that were asking. The most frequent question was “What did you most/least enjoy about your job?” so we had polished our response of enjoyment of team working, problem solving and making a difference quite well by the end of the session!
Minehead Middle STEM club
In addition to funding materials for this extra-curricular club, Ada in Porlock’s Stephen and Kathryn joined the club to answer questions specifically on working in STEM.
There was a great deal on engagement and interest in career highlights and lows from this very open group, focussing on an understanding of ‘A day in the life of….’ a career scientist or engineer.
West Somerset College careers event
This was a major, multi-day experience brilliantly organised by WSC’s career advisor, Kathryn Cooksley. The goal was to provide an “immersive” experience to try and give a feel for what you actually might do at work. With sessions involving local companies, the British Army and Stacked Wonky amongst others, Ada in Porlock volunteers Belle, Stephen, David and Paul provided parallel sessions introducing engineering principles including prototyping, test and evaluation and whilst also indicating the benefits of working in science and technology and highlighting different paths to STEM careers.
Our thanks to all the excellent, dedicated staff and the patiently attentive pupils at both Minehead Middle School and West Somerset College for making these days so enjoyable.