Apprentice wants to become a champion of changing minds

Only a few months ago, Jessica helped to clinch the National Championship for the Scottish Hockey Team and yesterday, she received a BrightSparks Award for her performance in her Design Engineering Graduate Apprenticeship at Leonardo in Edinburgh.

Jessica was presented with the prize last night at the awards ceremony at the Institution of Engineering and Technology at Savoy Place in London, which recognise the brightest emerging talent in the UK’s engineering and technology industries.

Now she wants to become a different kind of champion, one who can change young people’s minds about engineering careers.

Jessica, who is studying for a BEng degree in Electronics Engineering at Strathclyde University while completing her graduate apprenticeship and was recently awarded a special scholarship by the university, said: “I believe engineering has a reputation as a ‘hard’ degree to complete, but I would like to show others that it is possible to balance your goals within engineering and any external goals, by working hard and managing your time effectively.

"When I was at school, I didn’t complete any science subjects and I scraped a pass in Maths. I was always a creative thinker, enjoying subjects such as Art, Music and English.

"Even at a young age I would have never considered that engineering could have been a viable option for me, simply from my perception of the career. I would like to become a champion of changing that impression, as now I understand that curiosity, creative problem-solving and communication skills are central to innovation in engineering.”

Jessica took ownership of her progress through her apprenticeship by gaining a better understanding of her learning style, through a process of trail and error. She is now achieving high marks in her maths classes at Strathclyde University, something which she would have never believed was possible when she was at school.

Now she has found a unique means of channelling all that she has learned into her work as a STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) Ambassador in the community, by mixing sports and science to offer a fresh perspective.

Jessica said: “I believe that to close the STEM skills gap, we should challenge the outdated and inaccurate stereotypes that discourage people from pursuing engineering by showing that an engineering career can work alongside other personal goals.

"I offer a unique perspective to this narrative, as I compete at the highest level in international sport alongside an engineering career. I truly believe that there is an intrinsic link between excelling in sport and excelling academically, which is why I combine a hockey taster with a STEM outreach session.

"Within my STEM outreach sessions, I use my creative skills and previous degree in design to make electronics more accessible to those who don’t have a typical maths/physics type brain.”

She is certain that transposing the educational experience into a non-traditional setting could awaken young people’s potential to enrich the future talent pipeline for Scottish industry.

Jessica added: “I am passionate about showing how creative a career in engineering can be. Problem solving, visualising solutions and creativity are valuable skills in engineering that I focus on within my workshops. I believe if we can bring more young people into engineering with a creative mind-set it will drive innovation and improve the technology of the future.”

Jessica is set to travel to Chile in February 2025 to represent Scotland in the International Nations Hockey Cup.

Even though she is a relative newcomer to the sport, Jessica has emerged as a new talent in the Scottish Hockey scene, after being selected to represent her country in the World Cup Qualifier in 2021, before competing in the Commonwealth Games.