Aerospace alliance names first "Youth Ambassador

Citation

(2007), "Aerospace alliance names first "Youth Ambassador", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 79 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2007.12779aab.025

Aerospace alliance names first "Youth Ambassador"

Aerospace alliance names first "Youth Ambassador"

The UK's North West Aerospace Alliance (NWAA) has appointed its first “Youth Ambassador” in a bid to encourage more young people to consider a career in aerospace.

The NWAA sees the move as a pro- active step in attracting more young people into the industry where knowledge of innovative processes and technologies are seen as vital to maintaining a technological lead for the UK.

Lancaster University undergraduate Anthony Stagg, aged 22, will help the Alliance take its campaign to young people throughout the North West as it encourages more youngsters to consider a fulfilling and rewarding career in the sector.

Anthony, who is on a four-year honours degree course in mechanical engineering, first became involved with the NWAA through its annual summer school for engineering undergraduates.

His first duties as “ambassador” included speaking to International Youth Day visitors to the NWAA stand during the recent Farnborough International Air Show. In the future, he will help to promote the region's aerospace sector at career fairs, at the NWAA annual awards evening and will play a leading role in promoting the summer school, which is now in its sixth year.

Explains NWAA Rachel Brickell, Project Co-ordinator Skills: “We will also be looking at more ways of reaching school age youngsters and looking at new ways of attracting more young people into the industry.”

Anthony, who comes from Great Sankey, Warrington, added: “The NWAA summer school provided a great introduction to the aerospace industry and has encouraged me to seek out career opportunities in the industry, hopefully in aerospace engineering design. I am looking forward to helping the Alliance attract more interest in the industry.”

NWAA Executive Director Martin Wright believes that the appointment, along with the Alliance's established annual Irene Short Award for aerospace apprentices and its Sir Frank Whittle award for North West undergraduates, play an important role in attracting much-needed talent to the industry.

He commented: “Promotion of the aerospace industry to young people is one of our keys activities. Aerospace offers exciting career prospects for young people and has a great future ahead provided that we can secure people with the knowledge and skills to keep driving it forward.

“To achieve that we need the best people available, especially with rapid technological changes which demand greater levels of knowledge than ever before. This should be seen as a challenge to the youth of the UK to play their part in helping to create and sustain the best aerospace cluster in the world.”