Are engineers ‘cool’ or ‘creative’ types? Do engineers come from all walks of life? Can the engineering profession appeal to a wider variety of people?
According to Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Engineers Australia member, engineer and founder of Youth Without Borders, this certainly appears to be the case.
Recently named the 2015 Queensland Young Australian of the Year, Yassmin realised that there was a problem with the engineering profession – it had not historically been seen as a field that encouraged diversity. The perception traditionally was that engineering is not always welcoming or even open to all types of people entering or moving around within the profession.
But over the last few decades, this perception has been changing.
Yassmin has seen, through her project called Spark, that there is plenty of interest in engineering in Australia and it is winning the hearts of those from less traditional backgrounds.
Yassmin has discovered that engineering students in Queensland and Victoria are able to inspire students from rural backgrounds, those in foster care, those from indigenous backgrounds, and even refugees. Spark is transforming lives of young engineering students, one spark at a time.
Spark partner Warwick King, President of ConocoPhillips Australia East said “Spark Engineering gives young people from right across Australia real-life exposure to tertiary engineering studies. We are very proud to support this initiative, and it is especially exciting to see past-Sparkies coming through into tertiary studies.”
The camps take young budding engineers on a journey from shy teenagers to confident and empowered young adults who can make positive choices about their future and potentially realise a career in engineering.
Peter Koulos, Director of Norman Disney & Young (NDY) Director agreed: “NDY consider this an important initiative to promote the engineering discipline to a wider demographic and provide an opportunity to our future generation of engineers.”
Yassmin notes that fantastic mentors are a lynchpin in the success of the Spark project and that many Spark alumni have become mentors for the next generation.
Spark mentor Jade Withers witnessed first-hand the “Spark effect”. He says, “During the goodbyes there were tears shed and that really shows how special it was. For a mentor it really doesn’t get much better than that.”
If you or your company are shaping the new face of engineering in 2015 please contact Engineers Australia to share your story.
To learn more about Spark and their engineering camps in Queensland, contact Anisha Dhungana, National Partnerships Coordinator at [email protected] or visit www.sparkengineeringcamp.ywb.com.au for more information.