I’m still slightly lost for words and my days feel a bit empty now without all the chats and questions to answer! I honestly can’t quite believe that I won and feel truly humbled that I was chosen from such an incredible group of engineers. Phil, Sylwia, Matt, Helen and Stephen; you guys are all truly inspirational and it’s been an absolute blast, (slight rocket pun intended), to get to go on the crazy ride with you all.
When I signed up to take part having a heard a little about the event I was definitely underprepared for how fast-paced the chats would be, or the level of interest and enthusiasm from all those involved. I have been blown away by all the schools and students that took part; their questions, their passion and the efforts they all made to pose us some tricky and interesting questions! In both the chats and the Ask area I was constantly amazed at the varied, insightful, (and sometimes hilarious), questions we received. I can’t thank every student, teacher, and school employee enough for taking part and providing me with the opportunity to share my experiences and enthusiasm. You have revitalised my love for engineering and inspired me to achieve even more than I dreamed of. I can only hope I have inspired at least a few of you to follow my down this amazing journey!
A big shout out to all the IAE crew, you made everything smooth sailing and thank you for providing such an amazing platform for everyone to engage in. If the two weeks were busy for us, I’m sure they were crazy for all of you behind the scenes so thank you from everyone involved this side of the screen! I can’t wait to put the prize money to good use, (I’ll be stocking up on my astronaut training supplies at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in May), and will shortly be putting together all the resources and various training programmes that I can use to encourage all of you to get involved in Mission X, get up and active, and learn about space along the way!
I think it was on the final day of the event, in one of the chats, someone sent me a comment that simply said ‘you’ve inspired me to be an engineer’. A simple sentence, but one that makes every second of the last two weeks, all the years studying and working, all the hard work, and putting ourselves and our passions out into the world worthwhile. We can all achieve our dreams, and I can only hope in the last two weeks I’ve helped a few people see that they can be whoever and whatever they want to be as long as they believe in themselves. Thank you IAEUK for providing our very own launch pad for the next generation of engineers!
Hollie
Engineers! If you’d like the chance to win funding for your own STEM outreach, apply for the next I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here: iaeuk.ddev.site/engineer-apply