A recent year’s activity

The Society Annual Report for 2008 states that, during the year, the Careers Centre ran the following events and activities to promote the aerospace and aviation industry:

• The annual Ballantyne seminar “World Without Aerospace”, held in March 2008 and aimed at 14 – 18 year olds.  The seminar included talks by Boeing, EADS, Astrium and Bournemouth University, with a new format for the seminar that enabled students to give their own presentations on the day’s themes;
• In April 2008 the UK Rocketry Challenge Finals 2008 were held in partnership with Tripolus Ltd and UKRA.  This was the second annual rocketry competition for schools, with 22 teams from across the UK entering the competition and 20 teams attending on the final day;
• In the spring of 2008 the Mission Virgin Galactic Competition was launched.  This is a partnership between the Society, Virgin Galactic and the RAF to run a new competition for Key Stage 3 pupils called ‘Mission Virgin Galactic’ with the aim of getting students from UK schools to design innovative products for space. The competition started in September with the finals taking place in 2009, with the Society managing the administration of the competition and steering group, providing advice and running the competition website. (Nearly 300 schools entered the competition, with the eight winners of the regional finals then competing in the final in July 2009 at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford. The winning team, St Mary's CE Middle School, Puddletown, Dorset, and runners up, Sackville School, East Grinstead, were both awarded a trip to the United States, a tour of the Mojave spaceport, and a chance to see SpaceShipTwo, Virgin Galactic's commercial spaceship, in flight.)
• In June 2008 the Society hosted the launch of ‘Reach for the Sky’ educational Key Stage 2 booklet, produced by the Yorkshire Air Museum and partly sponsored by the Society’s Centennial Fund;
• From July the Careers Centre continued (started in 2007) its successful Key Stage 2 events ‘Cool Aeronautics on the Move’.  These events are for 9 – 10 year olds and were held in partnership with the Society’s branches and included support from BA, Marshall Aerospace, BAE Systems, SSTL, Serco, EADS, Astrium and the RAF and were held around the UK, aiming to attract around 500 children during the celebrations of 100 years of British Aviation. Locations included RAF Cosford, Imperial War Museum Duxford and BAE Systems Farnborough;
• In July 2008 the Society organised the International Youth Day at Farnborough International, supported through funding from Farnborough International.  The day included a Careers Exhibition for both school pupils and university students seeking study pathways and job opportunities and a Science and Technology area including activities such as robotics, engineering experiments, etc. Staff from the Careers Centre were on hand to provide advice to the general public and around 400 specially invited young people attended;
• In October 2008 the Society ran the second Women in Aerospace and Aviation event open to both members and non-members with a focus on bringing together experienced female professionals with those at the beginning of their careers and tackling specific issues such as inerviews, salary negotiations, etc;
• In November 2008 the Society ran its annual Aerospace and Aviation Careers Fair which is open to members and general public with recruiters exhibiting career opportunities, company seminars, careers talks from Society members, etc.  The Society also ran CV workshops and Professional Development seminars;
• In November 2008 the Society ran a joint stand with the SBAC at the Skills London Exhibition for 14 – 19 year-olds;
• In December 2008 the Society launched with the Boeing Company (providing financial support from Boeing’s philanthropic fund) the Schools Build a Plane Challenge. Following development work during the year a project was created for young people at Key Stage 4 and 5. The aim is for schools to build themselves a light plane from a kit, achieving formal Permits to Fly and a viable flying aircraft at the end of the project. In addition to building experience, the project aims to inspire teachers and young people about Science, Technology and Maths (STEM), to promote other skills and be the basis of a wider educational programme and a large dissemination activity (in March 2009 it was announced that the first lead school selected to undertake the challenge is the Yateley School in Hampshire, with building work starting in the summer of 2009 and the finished article to be unveiled in July 2010 at the Farnborough International Air Show).

In addition to events the Careers Centre continued to provide information through leaflets, supported by the SBAC in 2008. New leaflets included case studies and useful links for users (which included schools, individuals, colleges, universities etc.).  The Careers Centre continued its partnership with The Independent, producing two issues of Everything Aerospace (26,000 of each issue printed, with 7,000 automatically sent to schools/colleges/universities). In 2008 the Careers Centre visited a number of universities giving presentations, CV workshops and advice to students.

During 2008 the Career Centre continued its role of administering and supporting the Medals and Awards Committee and the Centennial Scholarship Fund. In 2008 the Society made 77 grants (2007: 98), totalling £68,484 (2007: £88,327), towards the cost of tuition fees, travel costs, bursaries, prizes and awards.

A flavour of these events is given in the extracts below from The Aerospace Professional. Many more examples are to be found in back numbers of the journal.