Recently, North Hertfordshire College hosted the official launch event of the STEM Discovery Centre’s ‘Mission to Mars’ project in collaboration with Stevenage Borough Council and funded by Mission 44.
Mission 44 is a global foundation established by Sir Lewis Hamilton to build a fairer, more inclusive future for young people around the world, no matter their background. One of their priorities is to create opportunities for young people to pursue careers in STEM.
Pupils from two local secondary schools, as well as some of the local home educated community, will undertake a 20-week project, designed to help them build interest in STEM, and break down the perceived barriers to careers in this sector.
Pupils will complete practical and immersive sessions themed around planning a Mars mission and delivered by the team at the STEM Discovery Centre. Our budding rocket scientists will have support from leading industry experts from project partners Airbus, as well as MBDA, University College London, and Pfizer. They’ll also be out and about visiting state-of-the-art facilities like Rutherford Appleton Laboratories!
At the end of the 20-week project, the group will present their findings to a panel of industry representatives, members of local Government, and their teachers at Stevenage Borough Council’s Council Chambers. This ‘Space Race Conference’ will allow pupils to outline what they’ve planned, justify their decisions, and explain how they overcame challenges along the way.
Upon successful completion of the programme, each young person will achieve a Gold Level Industrial Cadets award. This accolade will make an extremely valuable addition to their future CVs.
Our space cadets visited North Hertfordshire College’s Stevenage campus for the official launch event. After a briefing from STEM Discovery Centre Manager, Shell Fearn, pupils were split into groups and set a series of tasks to help them understand what the next 20 weeks will look like.
The first challenge asked pupils to think about what barriers might stand in the way of success, such as financial barriers, anxiety, and geography. After working together to write their answers down, Shell invited each cadet to physically punch, kick, or run through the paper they’d written the barriers onto. This was a symbolic (and super fun!) way to demonstrate how this project will help each of these young people to break down barriers to success.
Next up, Shell helped the group to challenge their perspectives through a series of optical illusions. This task was designed to spark their curiosity, helping them look closer at details, while also taking the bigger picture into account.
After this, guests were treated to a super inspiring presentation delivered by Mike Williams, Chief Engineer for the ExoMars Rover project at Airbus. Mike discussed his career pathway, from a Physics degree to leading the upcoming Mars rover expedition.
He then mentioned that one of his colleagues has now trained as an astronaut and will be heading to space within the next ten years! Both Mike’s story, and his colleague’s, are a fantastic example of the incredibly exciting opportunities available within STEM.
North Hertfordshire College Principal and CEO, Kit Davies, then took the floor to outline the growing number of STEM career opportunities on our doorstep in Stevenage. Esteemed organisations such as Airbus, MBDA, GSK, and Autolus all operate out of Stevenage, and the upcoming ‘Mission to Mars’ project will help inspire these young people to consider careers in STEM on their doorstep, providing home grown talent for the next generation of STEM professionals.
This year will be the third project that the STEM Discovery Centre has run with Stevenage Borough Council and Mission 44. Kit explained the impact this type of project has had on secondary school pupils so far, including:
- Improved attendance at school
- Improved behaviours in classroom
- Increased self-confidence
- Increase in the number of pupils who opt for STEM subjects at GCSE
Dave Ledger from Airbus, who has supported the project in previous years commented: “I am blown away! Those kids were absolutely amazing. They absolutely knew their stuff and came up with some truly fantastic ideas”.
The launch event finished with distribution of our cadets’ official uniform: branded ‘Mission to Mars’ hoodies with partner organisations’ logos on the back. They even received a goodie bag full of all the equipment they’ll need for the project.
At the end of the programme, these local teenagers will have an in-depth knowledge of the opportunities available within the STEM sector, plus wider employability skills like communication, presentation skills, project management and more. All before they’ve even sat their GCSEs!
T-minus 20 weeks until their plans will be ready for lift-off! We wish each of our cadets the very best of luck with their mission.