Volunteers at Milton Park, were recently joined by students from St Birinus Boys’ School as part of its ‘Explore Milton Park’ school engagement programme.
The all-day ‘trek’ event involved a skills workshop at Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ dedicated Learning Lab and an exclusive tour of Oxfordshire’s largest flexible workspace, the Bee House, to learn more about sustainable buildings, design and planning. Students then had the opportunity to experience the future of green travel by taking a ride on the UK’s first fully electric autonomous bus service.
Scientists from Vertex Pharmaceuticals were on-hand to discuss their career paths and give valuable advice to the students and representatives from First Bus, Fusion Processing and University of the West of England’s research team also volunteered their time and expertise, leading a technology-driven workshop and tour.
The five-year ‘Explore Milton Park’ programme, which launched earlier this year, aims to inspire the next generation into science, technology, engineering, arts and maths (STEAM) careers through a diverse calendar of events, which are designed to develop local young people’s employability skills and understanding of the breadth of jobs available on their doorstep.
Milton Park has appointed Ahead Partnership, market-leaders in social value solutions that connect young people to opportunity, to deliver the programme. Events planned for the remainder of the year with local schools include work experience days, a maths careers panel, Milton Park occupier treks and guest speaker talks.
Veronica Reynolds, Sustainability & Community Manager at Milton Park, said: “We’d like to thank all the volunteers who have participated in the programme so far, giving students genuine insights into exciting careers across a breadth of STEAM sectors. It was fantastic to welcome students from St Birinus Boys’ School to Milton Park, enabling them to find out more about the brilliant innovation that goes on in our buildings every day.”
More information about Milton Park’s local engagement work, the ‘Explore Milton Park’ programme, can be found here.