Posted November 2017.
Category: Engineering, Women in STEM
Sixth fomer Prianna Jhita has been helping to highlight gender equality as part of a celebration of women in STEM.
Prianna (Year 13) was selected by the Baker Dearing Trust as a case study for Ada Lovelace Day.
Engineering is a way of life for Prianna – it’s in her blood.
The 17-year-old has grown up with her family working in the engineering and construction industry and now she’s planning to take her family’s interest in engineering into a whole new sphere.
Prianna, from Leamington, travels to Coventry each day to attend WMG Academy for Young Engineers and is taking steps to ensure she can launch her own career in aerospace engineering.
Along with eight fellow students, Prianna runs Edge of Space, a project to launch helium balloons and rockets into space to take photographs of Earth.
The group will then use the pictures to assess the effects of the diminishing greenbelt, traffic pollution and global warming.
Prianna said: “I have always had an interest in engineering and science and WMG Academy has given me a lot of opportunities that I wouldn’t have had at another school. I have been working with our partner companies and not many 17-year-olds can say they have done that.
Prianna was able to gain work experience with Aston Martin and Balfour Beatty through their links with WMG Academy. She was also given a work experience placement at a vehicle design company in India and a placement with a prosthetics company.
The Year 12 student said: “I came here in Year 10 and it was definitely the right decision and will benefit my career. I feel it will help me get a foot in the door.”
Read Prianna’s case study on the Baker Dearing Trust’s University Technical Colleges website.