Alistair McDonald
Alistair McDonald dedicates one day each month to Ambassador activities. Here he describes his part in the 'Engineering your Future' event.
Why did you decide to become an Ambassador?
To encourage young people to enter the engineering profession which is becoming dangerously short of people.
On average, how much time do you commit to Ambassador activities?
1 day per month
Describe the latest activity you were involved in:
IET – Engineering your future event
What was your role in this activity? What were you responsible for?
I accompanied a group of 25 students round the various activities.
What do you feel were the positive outcomes for the pupils and teaching staff?
The day was excellently planned and organised. It enabled students to interact with keen engineers in a wide variety of disciplines. It was very positive and there was a real buzz around the event. On many occasions I was able to help individual students to address their particular concerns and encourage them to go away from the event and take action where appropriate. For example, I spoke to a young man who wants to become an automotive engineer; as he had a keen interest in Lotus cars, I was able to share my passion for lotus cars and their founder- a brilliant engineer and business man, Colin Chapman- with a man too young to even know of him. Colin Chapman’s story is fantastically inspiring and would encourage any young person who reads it. I hope that the individual will go away from the event and be inspired by one of the UK’s most successful and exciting automotive engineers!!
What do you feel were the positive outcomes for yourself?
It was a very rewarding day which helped put life back into perspective and I went home knowing I had encouraged and helped many students to understand the routes etc. into engineering. A very worthwhile day, addressing a major problem in the UK. It was so exciting to share a few stories about Colin Chapman with a young man who is interested in automotive engineering.
Do you have any tips for future Ambassadors?
Talk to the students at every opportunity, be enthusiastic about your subject and prepared to ask them questions until they become comfortable enough to ask their own questions. When you know they are trying to ask how much you earn, help them by answering their question transparently etc. as it often leads on to other more detailed concern type questions they are struggling to ask. Overall be friendly and kind to them and both you and the students will get a tremendous amount out of the day.
Any other comments
I think being an Ambassador is a great way to help address the lack of engineers in the UK. I know that through my involvement alone, I am coming into contact with a significant number of students and if there are lots of us doing it, I know we will be having a massive effect overall!! I would wholeheartedly recommend it to every Engineer.
