MNA launches STEM Challenge competition
A new competition aims to forge links between business and schools across the Black Country, Shropshire and Staffordshire.
MNA, publishers of the Express & Star and Shropshire Star, has launched a STEM Challenge 2018 – Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths – to boost student engagement with these key topics and also give them an understanding of how what they learn in the classroom will play a vital role in future careers.
Across Shropshire, Mid Wales, The Black Country and Mid Staffordshire it will bring together 24 STEM schools with local businesses who operate within one of the four specialised fields.
Each school will partnered with a business mentor to help their team design and manufacture a product detailed in a brief supplied by the overall sponsor Dudley College.
Vice principal Debbie Goode said: "Dudley College is delighted to be sponsoring the STEM Challenge. As one of the few colleges nationally with STEM Assured status, developing young people for careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics is very important to us. Our Advance I and II centres for Engineering and Building Technologies, our wide range of STEM A level programmes and broad curriculum offer for science and technology provision are all providing pathways for the next generation to develop their STEM skills and take up careers in these important sectors.
"We see the STEM Challenge as a way of getting young people even more excited about the hundreds of different careers in these areas, whilst also helping them to appreciate the many transferable skills such as team working and problem solving that develop as part of taking part in such a project.
"Dudley College loves STEM and we want as many young people as possible to join us in this passion."
The campaign has also gained the full support of Stem Ambassador for the Black Country Liz Smith and her Shropshire counterpart Malcolm Eyre.
The schools and their mentors will submit their projects for judging next July, all hoping to win in the competition categories of Best Presentation, Best Operating Model, Best Team Work and Best Work plan.
The MNA team is now looking to secure mentors for each of the 24 schools taking part as well as a sponsor for the Best Presentation category to join Denso, sponsoring the Best Operating Model category, Kuku sponsoring Best Team Work and entrust sponsoring Best Work Plan.
The competition timeline will see the mentors starting work in December with the schools teams, each made up of six pupils. Between January and May the teams will build their products, submitting video evidence of their work by the end of May to enable judging in the three categories of Best Presentation, Best Team Work and Best Work plan.
The Challenge event itself will take place in July when the Best Operating Model category will be judged and prizes awarded for all categories including the overall winner.
