Institution news
These are designed to support teachers and ambassadors in their work to inspire the next generation of students to take up a career in engineering.
Cornelius Mpesi, an IMechE Associate member working with Water Mission Malawi as a projects engineer, was delighted to share details of how the Institution's STEM materials have been received by schools and student clubs in the country.
"Due to COVID-19 it was a little difficult to visit schools, as my plan was to visit secondary schools with Career Talks and thereafter share with them some STEM materials," he explained. "Nevertheless, I managed to share some STEM materials with organizations and individuals in the region.”
STEM4KIDZ was founded in 2019 by Phyllis Chibisa, who saw the need to provide pupils and students with STEM activities. Several weeks ago, they established their first STEM Club at a Chisaweni Primary School in Mpemba, Blantyre, southern region of Malawi, and students were excited to receive the assembly activities, booklets and posters that he shared with them.
Cornelius also visited the Royal Kidz Academy, an all-round school with pre-school, primary and secondary classes situated in Mangochi district in the eastern region of Malawi. Lead by Mr Chancy Gondwe and his wife Mirriam, they are supported by volunteers and STEM advocates like Christina Choliva, an Electrical Engineer in her final year at the University of Malawi and Fellow and Member of WomEng. Christina and her colleagues at the Academy were also able to make use of the materials with their classes, with pupils enjoying the activities.
Finally, Cornelius’ nephew Yamikani was delighted to receive the careers resources pack from the IMechE STEM Toolkit to mark the start of his BEng in Manufacturing Engineering course at Malawi University of Science and Technology.
“The outreach work that IMechE members undertake on behalf of the Institution is both inspirational and meaningful,” said Jelena Gacesa, Operations Manager - Education Programme at the IMechE. “The Education Team endeavour to create STEM educational resources that are accessible to all children, regardless of their age and backgrounds. Seeing the real-life application of these, brings true meaning to the work we do.”
“We would welcome more of our members joining the +7,000 IMechE STEM Ambassadors to get involved in education outreach and give back to the next generation. Please contact the Education Team for more information on volunteering.”
Not content to rest on his achievements, Cornelius has plenty of plans for future educational outreach activities and ways in which to meaningfully share STEM materials in the future.
“Once things stabilise, I plan on visiting at least five secondary schools with Career Talks and after each talk I will donate a couple of STEM packages to the school, so that students can go through them in the library.”
“My local church Capital City Baptist Church is also setting up a Youth Center and one of the programmes that will be included is academic clinics. I plan on donating both STEM materials and resources in order to reach a larger pool of people.”
We wish Cornelius and all those he works with the very best in their efforts to continue to inspire students in Malawi. For free IMechE STEM activity materials, please visit the STEM at Home website.
If you are an IMechE member who is registered with STEM Learning and would like to request a STEM toolkit for your educational outreach work place a request with our Education team.