School leavers get taster of life as engineering students

Imperial opened its doors to year 12 students last week as the engineering summer school took place on campus.

Sixty students joined the residential programme organised by the Outreach Team and gained experience in a variety of engineering disciplines throughout the week.

Students joined project groups suited to their interests and with the help of undergraduate mentors undertook practical investigations and challenges.

Mariatu Katie Davies, who took part in the summer school, spoke about the experience:

“My time at the Imperial Engineering Summer School was amazing. I had so much fun learning new things, meeting new people who were like minded and getting a taster of what different engineering courses were like. I’m really happy I went as I was able to get an insight of what life as a student at Imperial would be like.”

This year’s school, which acts as a successor to the Headstart summer school, aimed not only to showcase engineering subjects and introduce students to campus life, but to raise confidence, aspiration and motivation levels in students towards studying STEM subjects and pursuing engineering careers.

“This really inspired me and made me realise that I could be good enough to go and apply for prestigious universities like Imperial.” Davies explains: “It made me a more confident person as I was able to be myself and not worry about looking too ‘nerdy’ as everyone around me was just as passionate in stem subjects as me.

“I truly recommend anyone who is passionate about engineering and learning new things to apply as what you get out of it is a lot more than you would expect.

Renee Boling previously attended an engineering summer school at Imperial, and this year worked as an undergraduate mentor:

“Many years ago I attended an Imperial Engineering summer school and had the best time. It really opened my eyes to the different types of engineering degrees offered by the university and helped me choose what to apply for. I also made some really good friends on that summer school - some of whom I’m still in contact with today!

“When I did arrive at imperial I decided that I wanted to give back and re-create the experience I had for other people so I signed up to be a mentor for the summer schools. It’s been a really rewarding choice, especially as I also do tours for the interview days we have in mechanical engineering and sometimes I see students who were in my group coming for interview!”