MW Kellogg
MW Kellogg has provided more than 20 STEM Ambassadors to the STEMNET cause. In fact, STEMNET reached a target set by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills more than three months ahead of schedule when MW Kellogg employee Ewere Odaro became the 18,000th Ambassador to sign up!
Since becoming an Ambassador, engineering contractor Ewere has spoken to sixth-form students at a convention about careers and demonstrated science experiments to an after-school study club.
She says: ‘I really admire STEMNET’s initiative. I think it’s important to encourage young people to consider a career in this area, particularly more females. If I can provide clarity or advice to young people who are deciding what to study then I feel like I’ve done my job.’
We spoke to her fellow MW Kellogg employees, execution development manager Chris McClement and graduate process engineer Neil Man, to learn more about how the company has been helping to spread the gospel of science and engineering.
Leading by example
‘We have been doing the STEM Ambassador programme for three years – I think it’s a really good government-sponsored activity,’ says Chris, adding that the response from teachers, pupils and Ambassadors alike has been universally positive. ‘They thoroughly enjoy it – it is infectious,’ he tells us. ‘The experiments they do go down very well – for example, we did one that shows what happens when you heat different plastics.’
MW Kellogg encourages employees it thinks will be best able to get the message across to a room full of 16- to 18-year-olds to volunteer. ‘We are encouraging graduates – from those fresh out of university up to chartered engineers – to visit schools,’ says Chris. As such, MW Kellogg Ambassadors tend to range in age from their early 20s to late 30s. ‘We target this age group because they are the ones that A-level pupils will relate to most,’ explains Chris.
Neil is a good example of this, having finished his studies a few years back. He recently visited Guru Nanak School in Hayes, where he had pupils enthralled with a simple experiment that involved dipping a polystyrene cup into acetone. The polystyrene dissolved and could then be refashioned into new shapes.
‘I explained the reasons behind the reaction, why it lets off air bubbles,’ explains Neil. ‘I used a spatula to scoop it out and then got the pupils to make it into keyrings.’
Having got their attention, Neil went to on explain the basics of polymer chemistry to the class and how the material used in the cup could be used on a wider scale, for instance to make insulation for buildings. He feels that this combination of fun and learning is of great help to pupils who need guidance when making decisions that will affect the rest of their lives.
‘At that age, we had no one to ask,’ he says. ‘For instance, I didn’t know I had to take a Masters [as opposed to just a BSc] in engineering to become an engineer – so for us to pass across some kind of clarity is a very good thing. If they see you’re young and that you can have a joke with them it helps. What pleases me the most is passing on career advice. If I can give that to a student who doesn’t know what [subjects] to take then I’ve done something worthwhile.’
Future benefits
Chris has high hopes that the Ambassadors programme will ‘spark an interest’ in schoolchildren and inspire them to consider careers as engineers or technicians. He is also confident that it will raise knowledge of science-based industries among teachers – who can then pass this knowledge on to their pupils and help them make the right choice of subjects at GCSE and A-level. ‘The feedback we have had is that teachers really like this,’ says Chris. ‘It helps staff at school because they don’t know what an engineer does,’ Neil confirms. ‘We provide expertise to teachers.’
Contributing to the STEM Ambassador programme also benefits the company because it allows its participating employees to develop interpersonal skills, which they can bring back to the workplace. ‘Our young people benefit from it,’ says Chris. ‘They get practice working with small groups with different opinions – in some cases very different! – and planning work as a team.’
Naturally, Chris also hopes that by sending employees to plug science in schools MW Kellogg will get future recruits as an added bonus. ‘If some of the children join us further down the line because they remember a presentation, then great,’ he says.
