New series of meet-ups for Science Oxford STEM mentors
Friday 20th January 2017
There’s no better way to get to know someone than over a beer and a slice of pizza – which is why we ordered both for the first meet-up of our STEM mentors last week.
Our new STEM Mentor Programme brings together schools and businesses in STEM. Our mentors are professionals from a wide range of organisations and businesses across the area – we have engineers, astrophysicists, geologists, biological scientists and chemists who all volunteer with us to work in schools.
Science Oxford provides the framework for STEM mentors to work with young people in primary and secondary schools across Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. We do this by connecting mentors with schools who have requested support for a science activity or event and want to involve a ‘real-life’ scientist or engineer. Meeting and talking to someone who actually does science for a career can help young people to feel more inspired and engaged with science in school.
Our STEM mentors are all ages and come from a variety of backgrounds but the one thing they have in common is a passion for science that they want to share. With their wealth of knowledge, our STEM mentors encourage young people, especially at secondary level, to find out more the wide range of careers available in science and technology in the region.
Our STEM mentors get lots out of it and so do the young people! Success!
The idea of the new meet-ups is to get our STEM mentors together for a bit of a social; to meet each other, discuss ideas around chosen topics and share experiences. The first meet-up for 2017 took place in The POD, the Oxford Centre for Innovation’s snazzy new co-worker space, and looked at how to be a judge for the CREST Awards and the Big Science Event. Our STEM mentors were joined by local teachers keen to learn more about the mentor programme.
The next meet-up is on 22nd March at the INTEL offices in High Wycombe and will be all about computing and programming in schools. If you’re a STEM Mentor interested in coming along, email our STEM Projects Manager, Karen Bell on [email protected].
And if you work in science and technology and would like to be involved in our STEM Mentors Programme, again, contact Karen Bell for more information. The more the merrier!
Blog by Georgina Matthews, Communications Manager, The Oxford Trust
