What a whirlwind! I didn’t know what to expect when I signed up for the event and even less so the first time I logged on to an online chat sessions. Everyone’s questions were awesome, not always on topic (yes I do like Prison Break but I am not the brother of a famous singer!), but they always got me thinking. They came in thick and fast and I did my best to type at breakneck speeds to answer them all. My colleagues in the office have never seen me work so hard 😉 But it was really rejuvenating to get so much inquisition about the topic that I love so much, especially when I think back and remember that I hadn’t even heard of “engineering” until after A-levels

One of the most frequent questions posed was; what inspires me to be an engineer Reflecting on the event, everyone’s inquisitiveness and desire to learn about the variety of subjects all of us in the Environment Zone were working on was exactly what inspires me to do engineering! It’s that urge to understand so many different things in the world around you and work together to develop ways to do it better. And I think I said it at the end of most of the sessions, but I really meant it – Based on what I heard, I’m sure that one day many of you will grow up to be the engineers that inspire others! So a massive thanks to everyone who took part; all of the students, the moderators and organisers (we couldn’t have done it without them!), and in particular the other engineers in my group – I learnt loads about earthquake, gas and hydro engineering myself!!

Oh, and my idea has developed a bit and I’m going to combine my love of cycling and low energy buildings 😀 The plan is to build a pedal powered rig to help demonstrate the power consumption of all manner of household items. I plan on rolling out (pun intended)the rig to schools or other events in the future, hopefully even visit some of the great schools that participated in the event! Watch this space…