LEADING the way for other girls to take up engineering has forged Victoria Simpson a place on the Young Champions Student of the Year shortlist.
Victoria, from Brettas Park, Monk Bretton, is team leader of society Girlineers at Barnsley College.
The 17-year-old started college two years ago doing A Levels, despite knowing engineering was what she really wanted to pursue.
After two weeks, she swapped onto the Engineering BTEC and has not looked back since.
She is now getting ready to go to the University of Leeds to study Avionics Engineering with pilot studies, with ambitions of becoming a pilot.
Victoria said: “I’m now in the last year of my extended diploma.
“Girlineers started about three years ago when the college noticed a dip in the number of girl engineering students.
“When that continued last year we decided to start it up again. Now we have about 30 girls as members. It is all about breaking that stereotype that engineering is for boys.
“There is only nine per cent of the entire engineering sector which are female and when I started college, in my class of 26 there were only six girls.
“Now we have more girls hanging about college so there are more who do engineering and no one is on their own.
“Because companies have got to fill quotas they are always looking for more women and in some places, women can be paid more than men, which you don’t find enough.”
Girlineers hosts a tea party every other month to socialise.
Victoria added: “I’ve already said when I go to university I will come back and I do run the Twitter page for the group, so I would like to stay involved.”
Victoria was nominated by tutor Chelle Charlesworth.
“Chelle sets out a lot of the stuff we do as a society and I had no idea she had nominated me. I don’t see anything I do as being extra special but it is lovely that she thought of me,” she said.
“The main thing I would say about girls in engineering is a lot of people don’t want to be in overalls all day long. And there are ways around that, it is not just working in cars or getting home dirty if you don’t want it to be.
“People can think things like they’ll not bother getting their nails done, but it is possible to avoid that kind of lifestyle, you could be a computer engineer or look at some of the other different routes.”
Chelle said: “Victoria has produced some outstanding work and has achieved Distinction grades throughout. She is passionate about challenging the equal opportunities for women and men in a male dominant area.
“She joined the society Girlineers and has since become the team leader, going out to schools and colleges around the area in her own time to promote that girls can do it too.
“Victoria is an inspirational young woman who I know will do so well in her chosen career path. I couldn’t be more proud of her.”
