National STEM Ambassadors Celebration Event 2009
Wednesday 29th April 2009
Each year STEMNET holds a National STEM Ambassadors Celebration event which aims to recognise and reward some of our most dedicated and inspiring Ambassadors. The celebration event for 2009 was held on 29th April in the Cholmondeley Room and Terrace at the House of Lords. STEMNET was delighted to welcome Roger Highfield (Editor of New Scientist magazine) as the keynote speaker at the event.
In his keynote speech at the House of Lords event Roger Highfield, Editor of New Scientist, said: “It is a no brainer that our economy is going to be ever more dependent on STEM subjects but it is a matter of some angst just how we get young people animated by science and engineering. I love the STEM Ambassador idea. It sends out a signal that science, engineering, technology and maths are useful and relevant. It shows the human face of science (not the crazy, white-haired, old bloke). It gives teachers much needed support. There's no better way to turn kids on to STEM than to connect them with people who have a genuine passion for the subject.
“Enthusiasm is infectious”, he added, before calling on STEM Ambassadors to “keep on fanning those little embers of interest into flames.”
Yvonne Baker, Chief Executive of STEMNET, said: “The STEM Ambassadors programme has gone from strength to strength since its establishment in 2002. More and more employers and professionals in science, technology, engineering and maths are realising that for their pioneering work to have a future, a new generation of young people must be interested and excited enough to want to take over the baton. Their support for the STEM Ambassadors Programme, through making it part of their educational outreach, CSR or staff-development programmes can be shown to reap real and tangible rewards all round.
“We are determined to ensure that the widest possible number of teachers get to know about the extra dimension that the programme can bring to their classrooms and how the real world insights of a STEM Ambassador, coupled with their own inspirational teaching, can spark a life-long love of science, engineering, technology or maths in a young person. We would like to thank all the employers and individuals who take part in the scheme and to congratulate the ‘leading lights’ who are being honoured today.”
STEMNET was also delighted to welcome Sarah Chapman, a STEM Ambassador based in Berkshire. Sarah provided an excellent speech about her experiences as a STEM Ambassador and why she thinks the work STEM Ambassadors do is so valuable.
Sarah Chapman works as a Technical Affairs Engineer for 3M which means that Sarah works very closely with both external 3M customers and 3M’s R&D team to ensure that the Health and Safety products the R&D team develop and produce meet the needs of 3M’s external customers. Interestingly, Sarah originally set out to become a professional ballerina and had never considered a STEM related career before so she would definitely have appreciated a STEM Ambassador coming in to visit her school!
There were six awards presented in total and these are detailed below:
Nominated by Teachers
Best Activity Award
Rewards the Ambassador who has developed their own activity that has really engaged students about STEM
Winner: Christopher Cleaver
Presented by: Vivienne Parry (Presenter and Broadcaster)
Christopher worked very closely with sixth form students at the Abbey College in Cambridge to develop a Carbon Footprint activity which was delivered to a total of 260 Year 9 students at the college. As a result of the activity, governors at Abbey College have now agreed to commit at least £20,000 and a 5% annual CO2 emission reduction which really demonstrates what an impact this activity has had!
Christopher was unfortunately unable to attend on 29th April as he was working on an engineering project in Sierra Leone. However, Charles Dalleywater, the teacher who nominated Christopher kindly agreed to collect the award on his behalf.
Highly Commended
Samme Brough
Manchi Chung
Steven Rossington
Support and Development Award
Rewards the Ambassador who has provided continued support to a teacher and/or school and contributed to their personal development
Winner: James Nicolson
Presented By: Baroness Morgan (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children, Young People and Families)
James has worked very closely with the Thomas Hardye School in Dorset since October 2007 and has helped out with a large number of STEM related activities during this time. This included drawing on his experience as a scientist at QinetiQ including masterminding a number of experiments to help understand the phenomena of the Gulf Stream and to understand the circumstantial evidence of climate change.
Highly Commended
Claire Cockcroft
Ciaran Elliott
Ray Porter
Inspirational STEM Ambassador Award
Rewards the Ambassador who has provided a positive role model for students and improved the image of STEM careers
Winner: Paul McCauley
Presented By: Pat Langford (STEMNET’s Director of Programmes)
Paul McCauley was the central figure in a six man team that helped St Annes Primary School in Northern Ireland win the Rolls-Royce Science Prize 2008. Paul was described by Ciaran Kinney, a teacher at St Anne’s Primary School in Northern Ireland as:
‘a quiet and personable professional who has shown the students of a small remote primary school in an area with high levels of unemployment and low levels of education and skills a range of career options and opportunities in Science that they has previously never heard of. He has enthused the students, male and female and made an indelible impact on the life chances of the students in my class’.
Highly Commended
Leonie Baker
Liadi Kola Mudashiru
Commended
Susan Foord
Anna Starkey
Nominated by STEM Ambassador Contract Holders
Most Dedicated STEM Ambassador
Reward the STEM Ambassador who has gone that extra mile to support the Programme and provided strong support to their local contract holder.
Winner: Samme Brough
Presented By: Roger Highfield (Editor of New Scientist)
Samme joined the STEM Ambassadors Programme in September 2007 and since then has an outstanding Ambassador who has participated in a huge number of activities with great enthusiasm and is particularly keen on sharing her passion for Geoscience. Vickie Bazalgette, STEMNET’s London Ambassadors Manager said:
‘She epitomises everything a STEM Ambassador should be; a passionate, engaged, cool, articulate young person who is dedicated to opening up the exciting world of Science to a wider audience and making it fun!’
Highly Commended
Sue Alexander
Lee Betts
Pauline Farrell
Melvyn Martin
Andy Millar
Adelia de Paula
Claire Sedgwick
Commended
Bal Choda
Victor Mantey
Michael Mooney
Steven Rossington
Peter Tattersall
Kandarp Thakkar
Philip Wright
Most Dedicated Company
Rewards the company who provided clear support to the STEM Ambassador Programme and contributed to raising the profile of both STEMNET and STEM Ambassadors Programme.
Winner: Astrium Limited
Presented By: Lord Sainsbury (STEMNET’s President)
Astrium Limited currently has nearly 100 of their employee’s registered as STEM Ambassadors, the majority of who participate in activities on a regular basis. The Ambassadors programme has even been integrated into the Company policy with each new intake of graduates being invited to join the STEM Ambassadors programme.
Sue Allenby at SETPOINT Hertfordshire who was one of the contract holders who nominated them said that
‘ I recommend them to you highly as a Company that has worked tirelessly, over more than a decade, to promote engineering locally, regionally and on the national stage. The STEM Ambassadors Programme is in the fabric of the company!’
Highly Commended
Air Products plc
Napp Pharmaceuticals Limited
QinetiQ
Commended
GE Aviation
Babcock International plc
Technical Fibre Products Limited
Outstanding STEM Ambassador Contract Holder
Rewards and recognises the STEM Ambassador contract holder who has gone significantly above and beyond to promote and manage the STEM Ambassadors Programme.
Winner: Sue Allenby at SETPOINT Hertfordshire
Presented By: Lord Oxburgh (STEMNET’s Host for STEM Ambassadors Celebration)
Sue has worked tirelessly, not just in the last 12 months but since the programme began in 2002 to promote the STEM Ambassadors programme and provide consistent support to them and encourages them to get involved in STEM activities with schools.
Her colleague Sarah Brewer said:
“I've only known her for a couple of years, but I can say that she is an inspirational individual with an outstanding ability to bring people together to achieve great things. Personally, I am really enjoying working with her during this handover period, and she will be greatly missed by all at SETPOINT Hertfordshire when she retires.
To give some idea of the scale of her local and national influence, I've found it most effective to introduce myself to people I'm meeting as "the new Sue Allenby" although living up to her reputation is quite another thing!”
Highly Commended
Tony Gill and his team at Cumbria STEM Centre Ltd
Lawrie Peck and his team at Derbyshire Connexions Ltd
Claire Dimond at Graphic Science Ltd
Sharon Whitfield at Hampshire Technology Centre Trust
Debbie Ellis and her team at Warwickshire Education Business Partnership
Click here to see photos from the event.
Photography is courtesy of Em Fitzgerald. If you would like an electronic copy of one or more of the photos, please contact info@stemnet.org.uk. Please include the reference number of the photo(s) you would like in your email.
