Pupils at a primary school were left feeling inspired to consider careers in STEM after a visit from three women with science background.

The Olive school held its Women In STEM day where the school heard from Dr Sarah Alam, pharmacist Moonira Hinglotwala, and engineer Vimbai Fedrick, who works for Defence Equipment and Support as an engineer in the Submarine Chief Engineer’s team. 

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Vimbai said: “My visit to The Olive School was amazing and all the children were very engaging. They were so bright and enthusiastic and seemed to really enjoy hearing about what a career in engineering has to offer. 

“Being able to share my experience of becoming an Engineer, which has been one of the greatest achievements of my life, is one of the things I enjoy most about my job. I’ve been able to make what other people may think of as impossible possible, and it’s really important to me to inspire other young girls to do the same.”

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Year 6 pupil Zainab Patel said, “Vimbai inspired me and showed me that to be an engineer you don’t just need to be able to build things. You need to be able to work as part of a team and have trust in one another.”

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Head Girl and Year 6 pupil Faiqa Murtaza added: “Listening to all three women inspired us to strive hard to achieve our dreams. Nowadays there is a stereotype that girls can’t do specific jobs and Vimbai has proved the world wrong! Go, women!”

Teacher Umhera Jadoon, who is The Olive School’s science lead, added: “We’re so grateful to Vimbai, Sarah and Moonira for taking the time to talk to our pupils.

“Visits such as this really help the children to appreciate how what they learn in school translates into their future careers, and they were all left feeling inspired by the three women’s stories.”