Empowering Future Innovators: The 2024 Space and STEM Tour for Girls

Our 2024 Space and STEM Tour saw 31 excited students embark on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the USA, highlighting the crucial role STEM education plays in empowering young women. For 13 days, students were immersed in STEM experiences that the classroom or a family holiday cannot offer. While the students visited some tourist attractions, the majority of the activities had a learning component related to science, technology, engineering or mathematics. This journey not only provided hands-on learning but also exposed students to potential STEM careers and study opportunities, underscoring the importance of encouraging girls to pursue STEM fields.

San Francisco was the first stop. Here the students toured the National Ignition Facility in Livermore. This is a facility that investigates nuclear fusion using the world’s most powerful lasers. Following a career panel and lunch, the group travelled to the University of California, Berkeley, where a former student, Madeleine Bardy (2021), studies aerospace engineering. Madeleine, some of her peers and the leading professor from the university spoke to our students about their focus on propulsion systems and the work Berkeley students were doing on designing, building and launching rockets in the desert. Other highlights included a visit to the Exploratorium which showcases six large indoor and outdoor galleries full of creative science and mathematics exhibits, a tour of Alcatraz prison and a city sightseeing tour.

The next five days were spent at the NASA-inspired Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. Space Camp activities reflect the training undertaken by astronauts and included scuba diving, three separate space simulation missions, learning to fly a plane by simulation, the one-sixth gravity simulator, the multi-axis trainer, learning about the International Space Station and more.

The tour ended in Nashville. A guided sightseeing tour included a visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame and some local ’Swiftie’ sights. Apart from personal growth and fostering relationships between students across a range of year levels, this type of tour has many benefits. The challenges that the students are exposed to and the real-world learning opportunities they encounter are designed to reinforce problem solving and critical thinking. Student awareness of STEM related careers is increased, and they are mentored by positive role models. Overall, students were left inspired and feeling excited and curious as they returned to STEM learning in the classroom.

We are serious about addressing the underrepresentation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), so supporting our girls in building their confidence and capabilities within STEM is critically important to us. This tour plays a significant role in their growth and our commitment to developing the next generation of women in STEM.

Maria Caruso
Head of Science