PUPILS from the Chase in Malvern joined women from a local firm for International Women In Engineering Day.

Year 12 students Amberlea Roberts, Thea Ramsay, Amelia Thompson and Emily Whitlock joined staff at Malvern Panalytical for a ‘lighthouse keeper challenge.’

Students worked in teams to design a way of getting lighthouse keepers (eggs, in fact) back to the mainland using a zip line to carry the keeper safely across the waves. The device carrying the “lighthouse keeper” also had to withstand being dropped from a height of two metres.

While designing and prototyping their design, students had to make decisions on cost of materials used vs quality, keeping the final product within budget yet as robust as possible.

The overall winning team was Thea and Emily, who just managed to edge out the competition with a well thought-out, low cost and resilient design.

John Palmer, faculty leader for Computing & Business, said: “This is just one of many examples of the strong partnerships between local companies and The Chase which aim to nurture the next generation of Malvern's brilliant brains and ultimately enable the UK to compete with the rest of the world.”

Amberlea Roberts said: “This was a fantastic opportunity and I’m really glad I took part, as we had an excellent morning of activity and a great insight into the interesting work, careers and opportunities for girls at this global Engineering company in Malvern.”

The day, on Friday, June 21, was part of an international awareness campaign to raise the profile of women in engineering and focus on career opportunities available to girls in this industry sector.