I became a STEM Ambassador whilst at University after attending an inspiring STEMettes talk. I enjoyed STEM subjects in school and wanted to promote it to other students who may think it’s not for them.
I come from a family of doctors and engineers, so it had always been the norm to go down that career path. It wasn’t until I attended the talk that I realised not everyone had the support I did. I wanted to be that support.
I enjoyed volunteering at different events just to build up experience. I have volunteered at the MOSI Science fair and various school career fairs. These opportunities led me to realise that I actually quite enjoyed working with children – they never fail to keep you entertained. I loved maths and working with children, so I combined the two and chose to become a maths teacher.
My current school is an all-girls school and something I noticed was that engineering wasn’t a very popular option amongst A level students. I wanted to change this. But, to do this, you have to change the girls’ mindset that just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
I started to run a STEM Club in school. At first, I struggled to get the girls interested and I didn’t know how. But, I decided to check out the STEM website and used the array of resources they had. A lot of the activities are fantastic!
"Volunteering as a STEM Ambassador led me to realise that I actually quite enjoyed working with children – they never fail to keep you entertained. I loved maths and working with children, so I combined the two and chose to become a maths teacher."
In STEM Club, we’ve made honeycomb, rainbow fish, spaghetti and marshmallow towers and even got the students to check if they have the ‘perfect’ face (or as we mathematicians know, the golden ratio).
I love being a STEM Ambassador. You never know what kind of activities you’ll end up volunteering for, there’s such a huge range to choose from. Being a STEM Ambassador makes you realise why you do what you do, not only does it help the children you work with, but it might even help you with your own career choices!
I would highly recommend being a STEM Ambassador to anyone. If you think you might not be able to commit, remember the minimum requirement is that you only volunteer at one event per year. You never know, you might even end up creating your own STEM activity!