STEM Ambassadors working with the local community

Our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and local community activities are something MNP are passionate about: it goes deeper than charitable giving.

We are proud sponsors of Hitchin Rugby Club and North Herts Crusaders. Both involve local players from youth ages through to adult sides and of both genres. Importantly they also have similar values to us. We share the same passion in our daily roles, be that on the pitch or for us in board rooms or on-site educating people about the benefits and finesse of structural and civil engineering. We are using our support of the 720+ children of the rugby community as a platform to promote maths and engineering and actively take students from across the local schools on work experience. We have successfully recruited apprentices form this base are developing this talent to become engineers and modellers.

In partnership with SETPoint Hertfordshire (which is our local hub for the STEM industry programme backed by the Department of Education and key STEM partners), one of our Directors, Stephen Vernon acts as a local business volunteer, attending schools across Hertfordshire as part of their programme of STEM activities and Enterprise Days.

As Stephen explains, “CSR sets an ethos, and by being involved in STEM and other educational activities, it broadens you and inevitably makes you a more responsible engineer. The personal satisfaction gained is just an add on.”

MNP is currently working with SETPoint on their secondary school programmes, which aim to make the connection between school and the world of work, enabling young people to develop the knowledge and attitudes needed to success building on various key skills such as communication, confidence, problem-solving and teamwork.

This year alone has seen Stephen and other members of the team take part in educational activities to promote women in engineering, apprenticeships and lead sessions to inspire young people to think differently about the structures they learn, exercise and live in.

One of our female engineers recently joined Stephen at Highfield School to share her experience about what it’s like to be an engineer from a female perspective and agreed, “It is fantastic to be able to fly the flag and promote the roles in engineering to girls and boys alike. I am lucky to work for a civil and structural engineering practice that has such a focus on development and education.”

MNP is delighted to be part of the STEM Ambassador community. STEM Ambassadors include people from a range of disciplines and backgrounds helping to bring a new and inspiring perspective to STEM lessons and career opportunities.

We work in partnership with Young Enterprise who are the UK’s leading enterprise and financial charity reaching over 315,000 young people every year. Enabling young people to develop the knowledge and attitudes needed to succeed, building on 8 key skills of:

• Communication
• Confidence
• Financial Capability
• Initiative
• Organisation
• Problem-Solving
• Teamwork
• Resilience