At Gen Y Rail students undertake an engineering challenge and achieve the CREST Discovery award – Britain’s largest national award scheme for project work in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
The British Science Association (BSA) accredits project work, research and discovery with their range of CREST awards. The BSA provides opportunities for people of all ages to learn about the sciences and their implications in real life.
Want to see how technology in the classroom relates to the outside world? Working towards the CREST Discovery award, you’ll get the chance to learn practical skills as well as being able to stand out to universities and employers. CREST focuses on building teamwork, developing transferable skills, and most importantly, having fun!
Working on the challenge, you will have to problem-solve, communicate with your team and together deliver a presentation to the panel of judges. During the day you will be encouraged to explore your own ideas, as well as brainstorming with your fellow students.
Real world problems
This is not just a theoretical task – the challenges are real problems faced by the rail industry today. You and your class could help come up with a solution that affects the whole network!
Stuck in the classroom can get boring, but CREST allows you to get hands-on with tricky challenges.
Staff working in the rail industry will be available to help as you consider how to design and present your solution – you can talk to them to find out more about how the problem affects the railway and the sort of things you should consider.
You can draw up your designs with coloured pens – don’t be scared to think outside the box!
What do other young people think?
The scheme helped Rachel Harris, who completed the Bronze, Silver and Gold CREST awards, to gain experience in industry. She is currently completing a Master’s degree in Experimental Neuroscience at Imperial College London.
Rachel said: “The sense of achievement when the project was completed and you were presenting to others is always a great feeling. Also working with other like-minded young people to complete my awards was great fun!
“It definitely makes studying easier when you’re doing something that you enjoy and have seen where good grades and hard work can get you in the real world.”
Looking forwards
Achieving the CREST award develops key skills that you will need in work, whichever career you decide to follow. Recent research found that undertaking a CREST award helps students to gain skills beyond competence in science, technology, engineering and maths. Creativity, determination and organisation are all attributes employers are looking for in future candidates.
The award might also make you think about the range of different and exciting things to do in the field of STEM subjects. Perhaps you’ll meet someone today doing a job you never even knew existed. Or maybe you’ll learn more about the future career you’ve always dreamed of.
STEM subjects and jobs are for everyone, and if you enjoy working towards CREST Discovery today, then you can go on to achieve the Bronze, Silver
and Gold awards as well.