During 15-19 January, I had the opportunity to attend the University of Canterbury’s Women in Engineering Programme alongside 59 other Year 12 students from all across New Zealand. From there, the university offered a diverse range of engineering pathways – ranging from mechanical engineering to forestry engineering. We experienced what student life was like, with each one of us getting our own dorm room in their brand new Tupuānuku facility, which was the closest to the Engineering department.At this event, the University of Canterbury has given us an insight into how each engineering department operated through the usage of real life scenarios. For example, in the mechanical engineering workshop we made a miniature Len Lye machine – based on Len Lye, who created sculptures through kinetic motion.
WiE CAN didn’t just focus on the hands-on engineering workshops but it also gave us valuable knowledge on topics such as prerequisites needed for entry, scholarship applications, and course timetables made by the university. We also had a mix of fun activities such as the Aerospace challenge, and the Entrepreneurship challenge.
This once in a lifetime opportunity offered by the University Canterbury allowed me to make lifelong friends where we bonded over our shared interests of pursuing engineering in the near future. I would greatly recommend this to Year 12 students currently who are passionate about taking engineering, as the University of Canterbury is a great environment to thrive in for this specific pathway.
Lourdes Grace Tuano, Year 13
