Added: 25th July 2023 by Stantec
Assistant Civil Engineer, Jessica Williams, has won the ICE South West STEM Ambassador of the Year Award. The STEM Ambassador of the Year Awards, held by the Institution of Civil Engineers, recognise members' efforts to inspire young people and promote civil engineering. The awards are an opportunity to celebrate their work, commitment, inspiration and creativity.
Jessica started volunteering as a STEM Ambassador soon after joining Stantec in 2020 and is now a co-lead for the Taunton office, organising and supporting their local outreach activities.
As part of this, and to support Stantec’s involvement with the Gravity Link Road project, Jessica and Elliot Dommett worked with primary schools to raise awareness of STEM with local children. Inspired by the project’s ‘green’ bridge, Years 3-6 pupils were challenged to build a Lego™ bridge spanning a road. A toy was used as a weight to test the bridges.
For the last two years, Jessica has supported the Industrial Cadets Gold and Bronze Awards, acting as an assessor and mentor to Year 8/9 students. The ten-week programme develops teamwork and task allocation skills and gives an insight into an engineering project lifecycle.
Jessica is also an ICE Ambassador and with others helped run a paper bridge building competition at Torquay Girl's Grammar School. The day gave the girls an opportunity to engage in engineering-inspired activity, developing their teamwork and problem-solving skills. As a young female role model, Jessica shared her positive experiences in STEM, the industry and inclusivity of civil engineering.
Commenting on the award win, Jessica said: “Being a STEM Ambassador has enabled me to share my journey and positive experiences as a young female engineer with young people. I believe that by delivering engineering-inspired activities, students can start to appreciate the opportunities on their doorstep, whilst also building their confidence to explore solutions and have fun. I like to show how civil engineering is an inclusive career, which can allow them to influence where they live, the environment and people’s safety, making for positive change.”
Stantec’s Liz Chapman, Consulting Engineering Director commented: “It’s never been more important to encourage young people to consider careers in engineering. As one of Stantec’s STEM Ambassadors, Jessica has been doing an amazing job of inspiring that next generation of creative and diverse engineers. It makes a real difference and I’m absolutely delighted that Jessica’s commitment and achievements have been recognised through this ICE award.”
