Fifth Creative Futures event inspires secondary school children to consider university education and science careers
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Friday 12 November 2010
Katie Bayliss
The fifth ‘Creative Futures’ event was hosted at Imperial College London on Tuesday 9 and Thursday 11 November. The event featured a series of workshops designed to inspire young black and minority ethnic pupils from London secondary schools to think about science and higher education.
Pupils were given the opportunity to take part in hands-on sessions focusing on collaboration and team-building, including a laboratory-based workshop on stem cells led by Dr Sara Rankin in the Reach Out Lab. Prizes were awarded at the end of the day to the teams who worked best together.
The students had the opportunity to meet many role models who gave motivational talks encouraging them to aim for university. These included the Jamaican High Commissioner, His Excellency Anthony Johnson, and members of Imperial's staff such as Dr Wayne Mitchell from the Immunology Department in the Faculty of Medicine. Sian Mitchell, a second year medical student who attended the workshops as a role model, described Creative Futures as "the perfect pedestal for pupils to begin to realise their dreams".
The workshops were hosted by Christine Yates, Kani Kamara and Kalpna Mistry from Imperial's Equality Unit and by Dr Sunday Popo-Ola, a Research and Teaching Fellow from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering who was the driving force behind the initiation of the Creative Futures programme when it first featured as part of Black History Month. Dr Popo-Ola said: "Creative Futures events provide a unique opportunity for pupils from local schools to visit Imperial College for a day of fun, excitement and life changing experiences which can encourage them to work hard in order to achieve their potential."
Imperial's Rector, Sir Keith O'Nions, told the pupils: "You could be the next generation of scientists and researchers, working on some of society's biggest challenges. Challenges we tackle at Imperial, such as finding green energy solutions, tackling climate change, and improving global health. And we would be absolutely delighted to welcome you back as Imperial students in a few years' time."
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