Young female engineer from Stone shortlisted for prestigious national award

Newcastle College and ABB apprentice Laurie Marshall recognised as engineering role model
Laurie Marshall, 21 from Stone, an engineering apprentice from Newcastle-under-Lyme College (NULC), has been announced as a finalist in the annual Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards run by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) to recognise the best and brightest young female engineers in the country.

The IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards highlight the achievements of inspiring young women who have chosen a career in engineering and encourage others to enter careers in engineering and technology.

Laurie was selected as a finalist in the Mary George Memorial Prize for Apprentices in recognition of her outstanding contribution within the workplace, as well as acting as a role model to other young people who are considering a future in engineering. If she’s named as winner, Laurie will receive a cheque for £750, an engraved trophy and certificate and will be invited to participate in high profile events, where she will get the chance to meet influential people and raise her profile within the engineering industry. The awards ceremony will take place on December 10 in central London and will be hosted by BBC Breakfast presenter Stephanie McGovern.

Laurie joined ABB Power Systems in Stone in September 2011, as part of her course at NULC and is currently an Apprentice Circuit Engineer, meaning that she works as part of a team designing protection and control systems, which are the “brains” of high-voltage substations. As an apprentice, Laurie balances a four-day working week with one day a week studying for a Foundation Degree in Electrical Engineering at NULC, meaning that she is developing valuable work experience as well as working towards a qualification.

Dave Halliwell Engineering Curriculum Leader at NULC said: “We are extremely pleased for Laurie and her accomplishments, she continues to show her hard work and dedication to engineering through both her work in the College and apprenticeship, we wish her all the best at the awards ceremony on December 10.”

Women currently represent just six per cent of the engineering workforce in the UK today, the lowest percentage in Europe. If this trend continues, the UK will be in a significantly weakened position to find the 87,000 new engineers needed every year over the next decade (according to Engineering UK 2014, the state of engineering report).

Laurie said: “Working as an apprentice at ABB is the best experience I could have asked for when starting off and it’s a real bonus to be shortlisted by the IET.”

ABB’s Head of Power Systems in UK and Ireland, Stephen Trotter said: “We’re really proud of Laurie’s achievement. As an apprentice engineer, the world is her oyster and she is developing skills and knowledge that will give her a rewarding and exciting career in engineering.”

IET Chief Executive Nigel Fine said: “We’ve been running our Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards for 38 years and have produced a number of fantastic female ambassadors for engineering as a result. 2014 has seen growing momentum from Government, industry and educators to encourage more girls to study science, technology, mathematics and engineering subjects, so it seems timely and appropriate to make find inspirational female role models who can support these efforts the key focus of our very successful Awards.”

College wins prestigious Keele University award

Newcastle-under-Lyme College (NULC) has been awarded this year’s Keele Outreach Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Raising Aspirations in Further Education’.

The award for the College’s ‘determination to provide a wide variety of opportunities to young people’, was presented by former student Jamie Littlejohn who attended NULC between 2008 and 2010 where he achieved A*AB in Biology, Chemistry and Maths with Statistics. Jamie went on to study an Undergraduate Degree in Biomedical Science at Keele and became a student Ambassador in 2011. Since then he has been involved in giving back to the local area through his Outreach work and so won the award for Outstanding Contribution to Curriculum Outreach for 2013/14. He is currently undertaking a PhD on The Crystal Structure in Proteins at Keele.

 

Karen Dobson, Principal and Chief Executive at the College said: “Last year NULC became one of the region’s top three colleges for university progression, sending more than 800 students to higher education. This year 90 of our students went on to Keele which is a good university and right on our doorstep. So we are delighted to work with them and to receive this award. It recognises the hard work and dedication from all the staff involved in supporting our learners’ progression.”

Over the past year, the College has worked with the University to provide the opportunities for young people to engage in work experience, e-mentoring, and master classes led by Keele academics in subject areas such as social work and politics.

NULC has also supported young people to attend residential summer schools at Keele and engaged in projects to help those students interested in competitive subjects such as law and medicine.

 

Ant Sutcliffe, Outreach Officer at Keele University said: “At Keele we are passionate about encouraging young people to aim high and have the confidence to go to University. NULC’s activity has been most impressive, with the college engaging with our Outreach Programme on more occasions that any other Further Education College. We congratulate all the schools and colleges, like NULC, that have been exceptional in helping us achieve these goals.”

Representatives from Keele have also been invited to upcoming College events such as parents’ evenings and careers fairs to ensure young people receive the most up-to-date advice and guidance when applying for university places.

NULC students take part in summer school programme

Over the summer of 2014, three NULC A Level students took part in the Sutton Trust Summer School. The programme gives over 2,000 young people each year a taste of university life. The one week taster isn’t all about lectures and seminars but also social activities to give participants and idea of life as an undergraduate at a research-led university.

The students involved in this year’s programme were Megan Allingham who studied law at Durham, Scott Huson who studied Physics and Astronomy at St Andrews and Jacques Dunn who studied Chemistry at Cambridge during the programme.

Scott Huson student at NULC said: “The Sutton trust summer school gave me an opportunity to experience first-hand every aspect of university life. It also allowed to me gauge whether I would enjoy studying at St Andrew’s.”

 

“I met a wonderful group of people who I hope to remain friends with.”

 

Founded in 1997 by Sir Peter Lampl, the aim of the trust is to improve social mobility through education, giving all students the same advantages regardless of their background. The summer schools are free, with subject-specific courses for Year 12 students from UK state-maintained schools and Colleges. The result is to demystify top universities and equip the students with the knowledge and insight to make high quality applications to those universities.

Scott added: “I met a wonderful group of people who I hope to remain friends with”. The students have gained a real insight in to what life as a university student will be like as well as experiencing the campuses and teaching of some of the United Kingdom’s best universities.

 

For more information about STEM provision at NULC, email info@nulc.ac.uk or phone 01782 254254.