Exploring careers bubbles to success with STEAM Northants event

Inspiring a swathe of Northamptonshire’s young people about the wealth of careers available was the order of the day this week (Thursday 15 June) at the annual STEAM Northants event.

More than 2,500 Northamptonshire school students and teaching and schools staff visited Waterside this week to explore the worlds of art, engineering, health, maths, science, and technology and meet representatives from those sectors.

STEAM Northants is the biggest county ‘careers expo’ for 10-18 year olds, with representatives from more than 45 schools and colleges and over 70 exhibitors.

UON teams showcasing their professional areas include eSports (with attendees having a go on our ‘racing rig’), an engineering area for visitors to use thermal imaging cameras and 3D scanners, Paramedic Science opened their skills lab for students to have a look around our model ambulance, and guests could also try out musical instruments with our Popular Music department.

This year’s STEAM Northants built on 2022’s activities, with Waterside providing a bigger and better experience, including:

• More shows and workshops following overwhelming feedback from schools.
• Exhibitors extended their offering to accommodate the number of young people on campus.
• Boosting local companies’ profiles with a dedicated ‘Logistics Zone’ to promote job opportunities and industries within Northamptonshire.

The University also welcomed the following new additions/guests to the list of presenters and demonstrators:

• Bloodhound Land Speed Record (BLSR) – brought a replica of their land speed record breaking car to Waterside.
• Beverley Clarke – Beverley is a TechWomen100 award winner and was our inspirational speaker on the day.
• ‘A Load of Tosh’ – a pyrotechnic extravaganza indoors with pyrotechnician Matthew Tosh.

Natasha Mycawka, Widening Access Manager at the University, was in charge on the day and says: “It’s been a huge team effort across the whole university over many months to create and deliver STEAM Northants, and the spectacular result is testament to that.

“The whole point of STEAM Northants is to inspire young people, opening their eyes about the possibilities in Northants and beyond and to let them explore and ‘have a go’ at some of the vast array of careers and professional areas available to them. To see them have ‘lightbulb moments’ and hear their whoops of delight just demonstrates what a success the event has been.”