The importance of Industrial Cadets in engineering skills development was underlined as a number of Industrial Cadets took a role in the opening of the major new exhibition at the Science Museum called ‘Engineer Your Future’ on Tuesday. The exhibition is a three year project which is aimed at 11-15 year olds, to help inspire them into Engineering by getting them involved in interactive exhibits so they can see the skills required to be an Engineer, and also demonstrating the breadth of Engineering roles.
A group of Industrial Cadets from the Skipton Girls’ High School attended after graduating at Bronze level earlier this year, mentored by local company O2 Telefonica. They were accompanied by a group of the very first Industrial Cadets who had graduated through the initial Tata Steel cohort in 2010.
At the Science Museum the Cadets spent time exploring the interactive exhibition and met with HRH The Prince of Wales who was opening the exhibition. They also had the opportunity to meet the media and feed-back on their experience of the exhibition.
HRH The Prince of Wales is passionate about the engagement of young people with careers in local industry and inspired the industry-led accreditation. With Industrial Cadets now expanding rapidly across the country The Prince of Wales is now seeing his vision implemented. In becoming Industrial Cadets, young people gain an insight into local engineering and manufacturing industry by working on activities with local companies and so become aware of the career opportunities that such industries offer.
After meeting The Prince of Wales, Lucy Harrison one of the Skipton students said, “We will remember today for the rest of our lives. Meeting The Prince of Wales was very exciting and we really enjoyed the interactive exhibition which we would recommend people our age to visit, in order to get them thinking about their future careers. This experience combined with the knowledge we gained through our Industrial Cadets experience, has inspired us to think differently about what we will study at Post 16 and the careers in industry we will go onto pursue. We are now able to see that engineering offers great careers which enable you to make a real difference to the world around you.”
In his speech HRH The Prince of Wales was generous in his recognition of the achievements of Industrial Cadets and welcomed the opportunity to meet the Cadets that were present.
Dr Gordon Mizner, chief executive of EDT, the charity that co-ordinates Industrial Cadets nationally said, “I believe that we are starting to see a theme of collaboration amongst educators, employers and other stakeholders which is strengthening the message that local engineering industry can offer exciting and worthwhile careers to young people. The exhibition at the Science Museum is another excellent mechanism which will enable young people to understand this message. I am delighted that Industrial Cadets, both new graduates and past graduates, have been involved today, further strengthening the theme of collaboration, in order to address the demand gap in an impactful way, this exhibition also helps to bring the same experience to young people across the country.”
