STEM outreach work wins engineer national award
We are celebrating one of our engineers winning the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) EngTech of the Year Award shortly before Christmas.
Tenielle Walmsley, based at our Bolton site, won the award in recognition of her achievements and contribution to the engineering sector, industry, and the wider economy.
On finding out she had won, Tenielle enthused,
“I had gotten myself really excited over potentially being shortlisted for the award. However, I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I just had my fingers crossed. So to find out I was the winner, and was being awarded EngTech of the Year 2022, I was gobsmacked!”
To win the award Tenielle demonstrated her outstanding commitment to her professional development, and showed how she makes a positive difference to her workplace. Tenielle also showed how she makes a significant contribution to encouraging young people into an engineering career.
Judges learnt of how Tenielle had run STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering Maths) after-school clubs, titled ‘Raising Aspirations’, which covered job aspirations, physics revision and problem solving activities. Tenielle had also hosted engineering / problem solving sessions to year 9 students a session at a school’s ‘Aspire Day’, run to give the students some inspiration on career paths.
On her nomination, Tenielle’s sponsor for the award described her outreach work with students at the school as having been “an inspiration to the young people”.
Following her award win, Tenielle acknowledged the help and support she had received to achieve it,
“Thankfully my employer allows me to support these outreach events. I also would not have won this award without the help of my sister, who is also an engineer, and who jointly delivered the after school classes. I would also like to thank my old school who welcomed me back and trusted me to run these sessions with their students. There is also a special thank you to my sponsor for this award, who is doing a great job at trying to raise the aspirations of all students at their school.”
Tenielle is not resting on her laurels, in 2023 and beyond she is looking to continue her support to the school, as well as supporting local careers fairs and other STEM outreach events. Continuing to focus on her future as an engineer, Tenielle is also aiming for Chartered Engineer status in the next few years.
As one of Europe’s leading defence groups, MBDA’s workforce is comprised largely of Engineers across a range of disciplines including Design, Systems, Software, Electrical, Mechanical and more. If you are interested in a role in engineering, as an apprentice, graduate, or the next step in your career, find your opportunity here.