I completed an internship with Rolls-Royce in 2018 and have recently returned in September 2019 to complete the Engineering Graduate Scheme having graduated from the University of Liverpool with a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Completing the graduate scheme gives us a fantastic opportunity to experience a wide range of roles and responsibilities throughout the business. I am currently based in Derby’s Production and Testing Facility, supporting the investigation and mitigation of ‘return to shop’ (RTS) engines. This gives me exposure to both technical challenges as well as dynamic programme management.
Throughout high school I have had a passion for STEM related subjects and was lucky enough to have the opportunity to join the STEM club – I then went on to run this club while I was in Sixth Form at school. I went on to continue STEM at the University of Liverpool, running our Formula Student STEM events in local schools in Liverpool. I chose to become a STEM Ambassador as I believe it is more important now than ever to inspire young students to take up a career in STEM subjects. I want the opportunity continue this throughout my career and also to have some fun along the way!
I believe being a STEM Ambassador can give you new and challenging problems to solve, as much as we experience in our current roles within Rolls-Royce. Each STEM project gives us the opportunity to develop different skills and abilities that we can apply to our everyday work. Personally for me, having the opportunity to lead the JCB Academy STEM project has greatly improved my programme and people management abilities, which I wouldn’t necessarily get exposure to otherwise.
JCB Academy STEM project
Being part of the graduate scheme – much like the apprenticeship, we get the opportunity to support a number of STEM projects which are run annually. As mentioned earlier, I am part of the JCB Academy STEM team, acting as one of two team leads.
The JCB Academy STEM team runs yearly projects at the University Technical College in Rocester. Previously, the year 10 students have been asked consider ‘What will Rolls-Royce be making in 50 years?’ They develop their ideas along with a presentation over several sessions which are then presented back to us, acting as judges. The most impressive projects earn the opportunity to visit Rolls-Royce and present to a number of senior professionals who hold important roles within Rolls-Royce, such as the Chief Engineer for Ultrafan. They also have the chance to see several areas on site including the Learning & Development Centre and Production & Testing Facility. These are the sort of experiences that look great on the student CVs, which can be used to apply for apprenticeships.
This year, the JCB Academy has challenged us to run a different structure of project that aligns to their teaching and curriculum structure – with the winning teams still having the opportunity to visit Rolls-Royce. The team have designed and planned a collection of smaller 1 hour projects that will be run over 6 to 8 sessions. These sessions will involve fun, interactive STEM challenges that require the students to work in teams to be Agile, Bold, Collaborative, aligning to the values of Rolls-Royce. These sessions will be scored and recorded, with the winning teams at the end of the 8 projects earning the chance to visit Rolls-Royce. The students will not only have fun, they will be given the opportunity to develop some key skills such as teamwork and communication which will be essential when starting the next chapter in their careers.