Another Successful WITS Role Model Day

We are happy to report that DIT held a very successful Role Model Day on Friday 5 May 2006 at their Bolton Street Campus. These Role Model Days are held for the benefit of second level students in order to help them to choose a career in SET and are based on a ‘how-to’ booklet compiled by WITS and published by the Dept. of Education and Science. The premise is based on sharing the day to day experiences of role models with the students and their career guidance teachers and in doing so, highlighting the great benefits that are to be found working in SET.  

Caitriona Lambert from WITS at the DIT Role Model day with representatives from WAVES – the DIT Female Student Engineering organization.

DIT originally planned to register 100 female senior cycle girls for the event, but in the end had to double this to 200 due to demand from schools.

The day was opened by the President of Engineers Ireland, Anne Butler and the Director and Dean of Engineering at DIT, Dr. Mike Murphy. Following this, the role model session was ably chaired by Engineering Faculty Member Cecilia Chan. The role models themselves varied from 4th year DIT Engineering Student Katie Hogan and Margie McCarthy from the STEPS Initiative, to Niamh Joyce who is an expert in explosives! Other Industry Representatives present as role models were software engineer Amanda McColville, Susan Spelman from Jacobs Engineering and Ana Fernandez from Vodafone.

Paula Kelly, another DIT Engineering Faculty member, closed the day. It must be said that the presence of so many female engineering faculty members and students really made a difference and went a long way towards encouraging female second level students to think seriously about attending DIT in the first place. There is already an organisation for female engineering students in place here called WAVES (Women – A Voice in Engineering Society) and they too played a huge part in the organisational success of the day. Feedback received by the faculty from the attending students was very positive and it is planned to make the RM Day at DIT an annual event.

Nice to see a WITS/DES product working so well in the marketplace!! Long may it continue.

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