The Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) under the leadership of Engr Mr NNena Agubata has taken its advocacy to secondary schools, encouraging them to take up Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education to pursue a career in engineering as part of the efforts to increase the number of women Engineers.
With less than 15 per cent of females studying STEM globally, the association noted that there was the need to increase the number of girls in STEM studies in schools and students within the junior classes as targets, as those in senior classes had already made up minds to either be in the sciences or other classes.
To encourage girl child in the junior secondary embrace science as a career choice with a target to lead them to the study of engineering, APWEN, last week flagged off the Mayen Adetiba technical boot camp for girls.
The President of APWEN, Engr Felicia Agubata said that the three-day programme was to encourage the girls to start early, adding, “so that they will think about science as a career option. We need to catch them young while they are still in junior secondary school that is what boot camp is all about.”
She said the programme was named after one of the association’s courageous founders, Engr. Mayen Adetiba, who has soared in the engineering profession, saying, “we are using her as a role model and a pace setter to these young ones, so that they can dream to be like her.”
The special guest of honour, Dr Nike Akande who expressed worries over the global existing gender gap in the engineering profession over the years, however stated that with the increased advocacy, more girls are embracing STEM education.
While commending APWEN and Mayen Adetiba whom the programme was named after, he said: “This is a good initiative. There would be more women going into the engineering profession.
The Technical Boot Camp for girls had over 10 teams who were taken through various engineering processes under the guardianship of a seasoned engineer. The girls were taken through different processes in a fun filled atmosphere to make learning enjoyable. Taught the importance of teamwork and collaboration and much more, many of the girls went home with the self confidence needed to advance their career further.
Engr Mayen Adetiba is an engineer of repute with many firsts. The first female graduate of engineering from the South South of Nigeria; The first female president of Association of Consulting Engineers in Nigeria, ACEN and many more. She is a Fellow of Nigerian Society of Engineers and one of the founding members of APWEN. She has served the country and engineering in various capacities and also Nigeria at national level through the Federal Government. She sits on board of many corporate establishments either as member or chairman. As part of the celebration of 35 year founding of APWEN the Assocation under Engr Felicia Agubata honoured all the 8 founding members of the Association for their foresight. This event is part of the initiative.
congratulations, APWEN! congratulations Engr Mayen Adetiba!! Congratulations to our girls who will be going home with renewed energy to take up STEM as career of choice!!!
