ACR Journal

December 2021 | January 2022 CAREERS 38 STEMazing Ambassador and World Refrigeration Day STEMAZING Committee Chair, Lisa-Jayne Cook, sales service manager at GEA Heating and Refrigeration Technologies, outlines ambitious plans to inspire women the world over. STEMazing goes global Volume 8 No.1 As we head towards the New Year and what will be a fresh term at school, the second wave of STEMazing Women are preparing to deliver their STEMazing Inspiration Academy classes with primary school pupils from all over the country. The future continues to look favourable for this invaluable programme as World Refrigeration Day is continuing to partner with STEMazing for 2022. This time we are aiming bigger - we have opened applications with a global reach for an International STEMazing Inspiration Academy that will bring together women in RACHP from around the world. The SIA supports women in STEM to shine as visible role models and inspires young people through fun, interactive STEM sessions. The pilot scheme launched early in 2021 was an outstanding success, training no less than 45 women to deliver engaging STEM lessons aimed at children aged between seven and nine while helping those women find their confidence on and off the screen. Many of the first wave of women have become STEM Ambassadors after completing their training and continue to deliver fun and interactive STEM sessions online and face-to-face. On an international scale The International programme will take place over three months, delivering the required tools to build confidence on camera and provide the women with a portfolio of sensational STEM sessions that can be delivered with ease. The SIA training empowers women to excel at public engagement, change outdated perceptions and leave a legacy to inspire the next generation. These female role models then deliver a four-week programme of live STEM sessions into educational settings across the globe. Thanks to the generous sponsors of WRD, the programme will again be delivered free of charge to the women and the schools participating, benefiting both the schools and families and promoting areas not yet covered in our curriculums, such as engineering. In addition, hands-on simple STEM activities and experiments provide children subject to a lack of funding to learn the value of curiosity, creativity, and courage in innovation and design - skills easily transferable into other curriculum areas. Alex Knight, an award-winning engineer and creator of The STEMazing Inspiration Academy, maintains that “We need more people to choose STEM careers full stop, but desperately need more diversity in “There is no upper limit to the number of women and schools that can participate currently, however, we are restricted by sponsorship levels.” Lisa-Jayne Cook