Guides and Rangers in Bedfordshire are being offered a new civil engineering badge designed to give girls an early introduction to infrastructure and the kinds of careers involved in building and maintaining it.
The free badge has been launched through a partnership between Girlguiding Anglia and the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), with the scheme also being rolled out across Hertfordshire and Oxford.
Aimed at Bedfordshire girls
The programme is intended to encourage more girls to consider civil engineering and other STEM careers through practical, hands-on challenges.
To earn the badge, Guides and Rangers must complete at least two activities.
These include building bridges with chocolate bars, constructing towers on jelly to explore ground conditions, and taking part in emergency response tasks involving water systems and shelters for vulnerable communities.
Girlguiding leaders can run the sessions themselves, but local units can also be linked with practising civil engineers who volunteer through the Institution of Civil Engineers to support outreach work.
Katherine Etheridge, regional director for ICE South East England, said: “Civil engineering shapes the places we live, work and travel through, and the partnership with Girlguiding is giving girls a real taste of what working in civil engineering could look like.
“We’ve seen how much they enjoy getting hands-on and trying out ideas for themselves, and it’s clear the experience is opening their eyes to new possibilities.
“Leaders tell us the activities are going really well, and many girls come away feeling more confident about what they can do. Bringing the badge to Bedfordshire means even more young people can explore a field they might not have considered before.
“It’s exciting to think some of them could go on to help design and build the infrastructure their communities rely on in the near future.”
Wider rollout
The Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Oxford rollout follows a national pilot that has already seen 15,000 badges awarded across the UK.
Organisers said Girlguiding leaders, Guides and Rangers rated the activities 4.5 out of 5 stars, while surveys showed that interest in civil engineering careers rose from 17 per cent before taking part to 83 per cent afterwards.
Karen Johnson, chief commissioner for Girlguiding Anglia, said: “Following our strategy workshops and members’ survey, we know how important STEM is to our members, so we are really excited to be able to work alongside ICE to provide this wonderful opportunity.
“We want to empower and inspire our members to lead the way and prove that girls really can do anything.”
Girlguiding units interested in taking part can find more information on the Girlguiding Anglia website.
