Kilkenny students to engineer their future during steps Engineers Week

Now its 14th year, STEPS Engineers Week is a campaign held annually to promote engineering as a career and the importance of the profession to Ireland.  The initiative is coordinated by Engineers Ireland's STEPS programme - funded by Science Foundation Ireland, the Department of Education and Skills and industry leaders ARUP, ESB, Intel and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).

From Saturday, 29 February, engineers from all over Ireland will engage with their communities to showcase their profession to primary and secondary students in their locality, highlighting the amazing ways Irish engineers are pushing the limits of ingenuity, creativity and innovation.

In Kilkenny, Castlecomer Discovery Park will bring STEM learning to life for over 150 secondary school students through a giant Catapult-Building exercise.  Using a collection of poles and ropes, small groups will work together to engineer and build a working catapult in their woodland setting. Kilkenny telecoms company Entegro will also participate in the weeklong celebration of engineering and will visit CBS Kilkenny to showcase the role of engineers in their organisation to over 100 students.

Commenting in advance of Engineers Week, Caroline Spillane, Director General of Engineers Ireland, said:  “STEPS Engineers Week, in this its 14th year, is reaching out to all facets of industry to showcase the dynamic world of contemporary engineering and to demonstrate to young people that engineering is a diverse career which is both satisfying and far-reaching.   Engineers are critical to our environment, to our economy and improve the way we live and work. Engineering affects all aspects of life, from tangible works such as the roads we travel on, to bridges and flood defences, to developing life-changing heart stents and prostheses, as well as advancing the invisible technologies that are all around us. 

“We are delighted to see so many engineering organisations, libraries, schools and third level institutes getting involved and showcasing the engineering profession to primary and secondary school students nationwide and inspiring today’s children to engineer the Ireland of tomorrow,” she continued.

Margie McCarthy, Head of Education and Public Engagement at Science Foundation Ireland, said: “Science Foundation Ireland believes in the ability of science, technology, engineering and maths to effect positive change in the world. STEPS Engineers Week 2020 offers an opportunity to encourage and inspire young people and help guide their subject and career choices to increase their knowledge and understanding of the world of engineering, and we are delighted to support the week in partnership with the Engineers Ireland STEPS programme.”

During STEPS Engineers Week, Irish Girl Guides and Brownies are also encouraged to work towards gaining the Guide Engineering Badge or Brownie Engineering Badge with their Unit and devise an innovative project that could be commercially produced. Each entry submitted before the 31 March deadline will be judged by the Engineers Ireland STEPS Dragons, with the winners crowned ‘Ireland’s Top Guide Engineers’ or ‘Ireland’s Top Brownie Engineers’.

As well as events organised by companies, third-level institutions and the public sector, teachers are also encouraged to get involved and run their own classroom-based activities, quizzes and competitions.   To download free resources for your classroom, including documentaries and activity packs, visit www.engineersweek.ie.