Some years ago, my 13-year old daughter arrived home and said she wanted to build a plane as part of a school project. I had always made model aircraft as a boy, so why shouldn't she enjoy it as well. Oh No! This, she said, was a real plane, and she wanted to fly in it.
It turned out that Stroud's Marling School had put together a successful bid for a microlight aircraft kit, funded by Boeing, and forming part of the Royal Aeronautical Society "Schools Build-A-Plane Challenge". The wonderful idea was to create school-based engineering projects so exciting that lots of students who had never considered engineering as a career might wish to become involved (e.g. my daughter). Marling was the lead school, but other local schools in Stroud, Gloucestershire would participate in the build (including Stroud High School for girls, Maidenhill comprehensive, and St Rose's). Best of all, they wanted parents with engineering experience to help mentor the students. Yes Please!
The students really did build the plane themselves. Mentors guided, but unless an operation needed adult strength, it was all in the pupils' hands. With the plane in various stages of construction, we attended four Fairford Royal International Air Tattoos as exhibitors, a couple of Earl's Court Royal Tattoos, Light Aircraft Association Fly-ins, two television appearances, and finally took part in the flying display at the 2014 Farborough International Airshow. Imagine that you are a teenager watching your school project displaying in front of tens of thousands of people.
About 60 students in all took part in the project. Many were able to fly in the finished plane before it was sold. All the students consented to having their photographs used in connection with the project, but naturally my own photos tend to highlight my own daughter's role. (However, she was indeed one of the small number who saw the project through from start to finish and also the first student to take a flight in the plane - in front of TV cameras.)
She did not become an engineer in the end, deciding instead to following a career as a chemist - still a win in my book! This and other CREST project in which she participated had a strong influence in showing her the rewards of science and engineering. Furthermore, high level practical skills with tools does no harm at all in a laboratory based experimental subject. She also now has the taste for public outreach, and recognising what she gained from volunteer mentors has now herself registered as a STEM ambassador and has also been accepted as an apprentice of the Salter's Livery Company. The large photo immediately below shows some of the project's "graduates" all by this time at university, and invited back to the Royal Aeronautical Society to celebrate the final, final close-out of the project with the last plane of six completed. (One chemist, one actress, one engineer, one charity manager, one environmental engineer, one electronic engineer.)
