Five Post 16 students from Immanuel College have enrolled onto a programme with Parker Hannifin Ltd, organised in partnership with Go Higher West Yorkshire and top universities, that aims to improve diversity in the engineering industry.
Year 12 students; Amy Bennett, Alex Marinova, Lucy Oakman and Heather Savage, have been joined by Year 13 student, Rebecca Johnson, as they partner with students from Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Leeds to work on projects designed by staff at Parker Hannifin Ltd.
Joanne Welding, Progression Officer for Go Higher West Yorkshire based at Immanuel College, explained: “Parker Hannifin are a multi-national engineering company and probably the biggest company you have never heard of! In the Fortune 500 they are number 225; alongside companies such as Mastercard.
“Parker are keen to improve diversity in engineering so have linked up with Immanuel college to develop female engineers of the future. Five Post 16 students from Immanuel are going to work with mentors from Parker and local universities on a real-life current project, creating an environmentally friendly hydrogen battery to power vehicles. The plan is to create a solution to a real-world problem. I can’t wait to see how well our students do!”
Amy Bennett, who is currently studying A Levels in Year 13 at Immanuel College, was excited to see what the rest of the programme will bring after enjoying the initial session where she met the team. Amy said:
“I was expecting just a meeting day where we met all the people at the company, but I was very surprised by how interactive and interesting the day was. One of my favourite parts was the team building exercises we did as it showed a bit more of what we could be doing – and seeing the community spirit at the company.
“I’m most looking forward to spending more time with the workers at the company, learning new skills and seeing more about what engineering is about!”
