Telford students receive an insight into vital STEM skills in action at Busch
Aspiring engineers from a school in Telford have been given a first-hand look into the design industry as part of the Shropshire Star’s 2019 STEM Challenge.
A team of pupils from Haberdashers’ Abraham Darby school have taken part in experiments, learnt how to build 50-tonne pumps and even had a physics lesson while touring Busch manufacturing sites in Crewe and Telford.
The event was organised for pupils to take a trip around Busch, the school’s partnered business, and learn what a future career in engineering might look like.
The challenge, which has been launched by the MNA, publisher of the Shropshire Star, was established to promote the importance of the key Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths subjects among young people, while creating key links between schools and the design industry.
They have been issued the challenge to design and manufacture a product that has a positive benefit to an individual/group and the environment, or just the environment.
Teams of six pupils from a range of Shropshire schools will then need to demonstrate their product as a working model at a presentation on July 4, 2019 at the Marches Centre of Manufacturing & Technology, the associate sponsor hosting the event.
Christine Hewitt, Busch design engineer and STEM ambassador, said: “As a company we’re obviously incredibly passionate about STEM and showing students the different elements of it.
“We took the team to our site in Crewe to start the day off, where they saw more of what we call heavy engineering – where all the machines are made.
“They then came to our system design site in Telford where we were able to show them how the machines are implemented and what they are used for.”
Charlotte Statham, science teacher at the school, said: “These kind of opportunities are priceless for the children and it really does give them an insight into the real industry that is hard to find within school."
