Aerozone sets sights on inspiring the next generation

Stansted Airport’s new Aerozone can be a catalyst to inspire a generation and encourage children to consider a career at the airport when they leave full time education.

 

That’s the view of Stansted Airport’s Education Coordinator, Joanne Davies, who says activities at the centre will focus on science, technology, engineering and maths subjects (STEM) to boost talent and help address the national shortfall in these subjects.

The £500,000 Aerozone is due to open in the spring and is designed to give youngsters from schools, colleges and community groups in the region a taster of airport life and an insight into the variety of careers on offer across the site.

“First and foremost we want the youngsters to have fun and a great day finding out how London’s third busiest airport works and what airport life is all about,” Joanne explained.

“Over 10,500 people already work at Stansted so it’s a massive operation and involves hundreds of engineers and technicians all working behind the scenes without most of us even knowing. Our aim is to bring these job roles to life to inspire and encourage young people to perhaps choose a career at the airport or the aviation sector when they leave school, college or University.

“All the activities will focus on the key STEM subjects as we recognise there’s a shortage of employees skilled in these areas. The centre will feature a large variety of interactive hands-on exhibits and audio visual experiences to show how hundreds of planes take off and land and the thousands of passengers travel through the airport safely every day.

“Exhibits will include plane sections from modern airliners and bombers that flew from Stansted during the Second World War, airport uniforms the youngsters can wear, and a scale model of the airport which is currently being designed and built by the airport’s apprentices as part of their course work.

“An area which I’m sure will prove extremely popular is the new viewing area that will have panoramic views across the airfield - I know my two boys will love it!

“Everyone at the airport is really excited about the Aerozone and we look forward to encouraging all our colleagues, including security officers, fire fighters and operations staff to get involved and volunteer at the centre when it opens.”

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