When we ran our first event in 2012, our vision was that these curious young women would one day attend university and become engineers. At the time, this vision seemed like a lifetime away, but this year it started to become a reality. More than this, the ultimate dream was that these young people would then go on to inspire the next generation and create a community of young leaders. That’s why I am incredibly proud to introduce Amy and Adelle, 2012 Power of Engineering attendees and 2015 Power of Engineering volunteers. I can’t wait to hear about more journeys similar to these as our very first attendees commence university in 2015 and 2016. In addition to this fantastic accomplishment, POE has achieved several milestones in line with our vision to inspire the next generation of engineers and continue our growth with new partnerships and team members. Milestones include: having new members, volunteers and executives leading the organisation shifting public perception about engineering through our media coverage on ABC News, ABC Radio and mentions of our founders in the Australian Financial Review expanding the program to formally measure volunteer engagement and participation partnering with industry like Intel to engage politicians in the conversation about STEM and innovation continuing the conversation about diversity and innovation through local and international speaking opportunities.
We continue to impact the lives of high school students, the engineering profession and the community. Thank you to our partners, volunteers and executives who have helped us: reach over 500 high school students and maintain a 50% perception shift with the majority of students positively changing their mind about pursuing engineering careers, receive great feedback from teachers about our events, pilot a new ‘school holiday’ event at UNSW, create new partnerships with UNSW and Intel, and generate media articles and mentions reaching more than 9 million views. We have now reached more than 3000 high school students since March 2012! Our continued expansion across Australia in 2016 is looking strong and we are excited to begin the year with partners who have a national presence. This will be strengthened by an executive team who are now based across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Thank you!