Year 8 Atomic Girls day

by Tanushri Puthalapattu, Year 8

On Monday 24th of June, myself and a small group of Year 8 girls (Olivia Hearn, Eve Rudd, Amelia Pyle and myself) as well as a sixth former were given the opportunity to visit North Tyneside Council to celebrate Atomic Girls and Women Engineering Day. Throughout the day, we discussed how society is changing in terms of equality and rights.  One of the activities was to review the Sustainable Development Goals, which are 17 goals which people think can transform our world. Collectively, we decided the most important goal was Climate Action, there were many other goals including Good Health and well-being, Quality Education and Zero hunger.

We also had the chance to listen to people who work for North Tyneside Council.  They told us about their jobs and the pathways they took in life that led them to working in something related to STEM.

The main activity was based on transport; we looked at how prominent transport is to us, how it enables us to go from one place to another and how transport affects the atmosphere. Our task was to come up with an idea that will encourage young people like us to cycle more and to reduce Carbon dioxide emissions.

Our idea was an app, a watch and an earphone set. The watch can not only track your steps but it can also detect how much carbon dioxide you are emitting into the atmosphere if you are in a vehicle. This information transforms into a weekly chart which you will be able to see on the app. Our idea also includes geo caching and monthly competitions and prizes.

It was an amazing day and it really got us thinking about our Earth and how we have to take care of it.