Bernice Mwenye was the volunteer project manager for three Power of Engineering events in 2019. The events were run in partnership with Toyota, and attended by over 200 students in total. We asked Bernice to tell us about her experience and why she chose to donate her time.

Could you tell us about the events you managed? 

It truly was an experience as we had a mishap the first day with the buses not arriving in time! We had to think on our feet and problem-solve in ten minutes (our engineering experience came in handy). We sent the volunteers out to the schools as we couldn’t get the students to the allocated venue. The kids got to meet a real engineer at their school and then moved on to the site visits. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day and the feedback we received was positive in spite of the mishap in the morning. The second event ran so smoothly I couldn’t believe the first one had issues.

The third event was at a school that missed out on a site visit during the first event. Toyota was kind enough to bring a hydrogen car to the school and all the girls learnt about that. We then discussed pathways to becoming engineers. Many of the kids had no knowledge of which subjects to pick (to study engineering), so the information we shared was invaluable and they thoroughly enjoyed our time there.

WHY did you volunteer to manage an event for Power of Engineering?

I wanted to be a part of the work Power of Engineering were doing. It’s so important to help raise awareness that women can be engineers! And to reach them at such a pivotal age. When I listened to Felicity Furey (Power of Engineering co-founder) speak about all the work the organisation had done, I was sold.

WHY is it important for school students to meet real-life engineers?

 I think representation is important. Getting experienced engineers to meet school students allows the kids to see that they too are capable, and they can become engineers no matter what their background or gender is.

WHY would you recommend a volunteer project manager role to others?

 It is a full on job, but it’s worth it when the event runs smoothly and the kids gain invaluable experiences. It’s amazing to see young engineers-in-the-making and they don’t even know it yet! Also, you get to work with great people and visit some very interesting sites. 

 Anything else you'd like to say to future Power of Engineering project managers?

It is an invaluable experience. You really are helping make a change in the industry and being a voice for kids who never would have considered engineering as a career.