Improving people’s lives around the world is important at Springboard; so important it forms one of Springboard’s 3 motivational pillars. One way that Springboard fulfils this motivation is by encouraging and supporting staff members with outreach activities and volunteering. Over the past 6 months, James, one of Springboard’s consultant engineers, has been volunteering with a local student through the Ort JUMP programme.
Ort JUMP is an initiative where first year of A-Levels students are partnered with a mentor who is working in their target industry. Through this initiative, James has been partnered with Raphi, where he has hosted regular discussions aiming to demystify engineering and explore the various routes and specialisms the sector has to offer.
This culminated in a recent visit to Springboard’s new offices where James spent an afternoon introducing Raphi to the company. Raphi was shown Springboard’s new labs, which included an engaging introduction to 3D printing and how Springboard utilizes our in-house 3D printing capabilities. There was also a tour of our workshop facilities where Raphi was introduced to more traditional options for manufacture.
James also organised an interactive session where he talked through what a typical week entails, including some practical demonstrations, and exploring some case studies which Raphi was able to engage with and contribute to a creative solution.
James comments: “Mentoring Raphi has been a thoroughly rewarding process. I have witnessed Raphi’s understanding of practical engineering greatly expand. It has challenged me to reflect upon and convey what it means to be an engineer, and how my specialism translates to working on multidisciplinary projects. I am grateful to the support that Springboard has offered in allowing me to dedicate my time to this initiative. I am also thankful to have colleagues who were all eager to talk about their background and run demonstrations, which provided Raphi with a very meaningful day.”
Springboard is proud to have facilitated this visit to our new offices and is looking forward to some upcoming outreach events over the next couple of months. If you would like to hear more about outreach at Springboard, feel free to get in touch.
