This year too, many Techport companies showed that you can have a great career with engineering and technology. And and that technical talent is not innate, but that you can develop an interest in engineering.
Getting secondary school girls excited about engineering
The number of girls and women choosing careers in STEM, engineering and IT has been low for years. Only 14 per cent of technical professionals in the Netherlands are women. During the Girls’ Day, powered by Nova Smart Girls, 100 girls who are in the 2nd grade of secondary education from IJmond and South-Kennemerland saw ‘the big picture’ at beautiful tech companies by female role models in the morning.
Taking workshops to experience technology in practice
‘In the afternoon, students attended several workshops. These were provided by the technical courses of the NOVA Campus Beverwijk. These were led by the female technical students; the Nova Smart Girls.
During the workshops, we spoke to some students and asked them what workshop they were taking and what they thought of it. Student Oumaima from Dali College was doing a workshop to saw a plastic tube and shape it into the shape of a letter S.
At the same workshop, student Milou helped out. She explains why she quit her management assistant course last year and is now training to be an electrician.
Emmelotte (12) and Esmee (14) attended the car engineering workshop. They already know that after secondary school they will study car engineering at Nova College in Beverwijk.
Teacher Hestia teaches automotive engineering. She sees more and more girls choosing to study automotive engineering. And finds that girls bring with them special skills that come in very handy in the car industry.