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- ACCIONA and Surfing Australia continued their great work through the ACCIONA ‘Engineering Confidence’ Women & Girls Workshop held this morning at Palm Beach Currumbin High School.
The event, hosted by Jessica Skarratt, was designed to not only build confidence in young women, but kickstart thoughts and discussions about real career opportunities in the construction engineering industry via STEM.
There were plenty of questions and enthusiastic discussion after the room heard from the breakfast's four-person panel including World Tour Surfer and ACCIONA Ambassador Isabella Nichols, Surfing Australia Athlete Wellbeing and Engagement Manager Michelle Mitchell, ACCIONA Senior Project Engineer Michelle Monaghan, and Palm Beach Currumbin High School Guidance Officer Steve Jones.
Isabella Nichols said: “The thing that excites me most about a career in STEM is having so many different opportunities, whether it's civil, mechanical or environmental. There are so many pathways you can take and even if you start on one pathway, you can crossover.”
ACCIONA panellist Michelle Monaghan said, “Having worked in civil construction for almost a decade, I’m pleased to see the shift that is occurring in the industry when it comes to female representation. At the start of my career, I was sometimes the only woman in a site-based engineering role. Today, there is a much higher representation of female engineers, with more joining us every year.”
After opening up to questions from students, the panel joined the group in a brain-stimulating hands-on spaghetti STEM challenge – where students had to build a structure using spaghetti and tape and add a heavy object to the top of it – that had all involved fully engaged and racing for a team win.
7 News Gold Coast attended the event and shared this story on their nightly news.
ACCIONA continues as a major support partner of key Surfing Australia program, the nudie Australian Boardriders Battle, Australia’s biggest grassroots boardriders event series involving over $100,000 prizemoney across eight state events and a large-scale national final. ACCIONA's involvement in the national final earlier this year saw the event granted carbon neutral status – a first for Surfing Australia.
MEDIA REQUESTS/MEDIA CONTACT:
Blainey Woodham, Surfing Australia, M. 0409197388