Former student returns to home town to inspire next generation

A former student from Lynn has returned to her home patch to inspire a group of science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine students.Amelia Spindler, who went to Springwood High School, is now the student union president from Imperial College London, Royal School of Mines.She returned to her home town of Lynn and visited a group of students at King Edward VII Academy (KES).

Throughout the day the outreach team led workshops with students from three Lynn schools, STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine) school applicants, and Years 10-13 at KES.An expert in carbon electricity also joined them to discuss sustainability and green energy solutions.The outreach team ran three sessions across the day, inspiring pupils to take the next steps into STEM and engineering disciplines, with experiments, talks and Q and A sessions.

Visiting from Imperial College in London, the students talked about university life and aspirations outside of academic life such as getting involved with sports, societies and life in a big city. They hoped to increase aspiration in pupils and show them the opportunities that are available to them.Amelia said: “We were delighted at the opportunity to showcase interactive workshops from the Royal School of Mines. The Lynn students from Years 10 -13 were enthusiastically applying knowledge from their GCSE and A-Level courses to fundamental concepts of the degrees studied at Imperial College. “Many thanks to KES staff and students, the RSMU alumni and departments who funded the trip and special thanks to the student ambassadors who demonstrated the dynamic aspects of the Material Science, Geology and Geophysics.

“It was wonderful to be able to go back to the town where I grew up and give my real-life experiences at university in London and to raise awareness of higher educational degrees less known to students.“I wanted students to realise that university wasn’t just a degree but a great chance to develop themselves and reach their full potential.”In the interactive session, sixth formers that studied sciences and maths were invited to join in with practical experiments and discussions.

Alistair White, head of sixth form at KES, added: ““It was great to welcome the Imperial College students to KES. Their visit was extremely informative and will have served to raise the aspirations of our key stage 4 and 5 pupils. “University life in London was explained to pupils who were impressed by the range of opportunities that are on offer.“During the group sessions the student ambassadors used their own undergraduate studies to demonstrate some of the practical applications of geography and the sciences. It was wonderful to see our pupils interact with and ask questions of the ambassadors as they learnt about each different discipline.“Thanks very much to the team of RSMU students, we are certain that you will have inspired a number of our pupils to follow in your footsteps.”Principal Darren Hollingsworth said: “The students from RSMU were exceptional ambassadors for Imperial and proved themselves to be extremely capable role models.“Our KES students certainly took lots away from the visit and I dearly hope to see the link remain.”