Professional female engineers were in Wollongong on Monday to recruit more females to the engineering game.
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The not for profit Power of Engineering crew were particularly keen to inform young females as well as regional and Indigenous high school students, that engineering was a profession within their grasp.
So for the first Power of Engineering event in the city, students took workshops and toured some of Wollongong’s best known industry work sites.
Students from Illawarra Christian School, Smith's Hill High School, Illawarra Sports High School, Oak Flats High School and Keira High School were guided through a series of workshops led by volunteers from Engineers Without Borders, Robogals, and the Women in Engineering group from The University of New South Wales.
Groups then toured either Tallawarra power station, BlueScope Steelworks or The University of Wollongong's Sustainable Buildings Research Centre and the Illawarra Flame House, which won the Solar Decathlon China 2013.
Jason Lee, EnergyAustralia Tallawarra asset leader and the event sponsor, said he enjoyed playing host and taking questions from the inquisitive student guests
Power of Engineering president and co-founder Felicity Furey said the Wollongong event follows the keen interest shown by participating students across the state who have come to realise what being an engineer could mean in their future.
Ms Furey said 71 per cent of students recently surveyed following a Power of Engineering event had changed their mind and would now consider the engineering profession as a potential career path.
‘’We find that many students are amazed by the impact engineering can have on the world around them,’’ she said.
‘’They tend to give this profession more consideration after learning it’s not limited to those good at maths and science; it’s a career that takes creative thinking.’’