Future engineers have "fantastic" time at Discovery Week

HARD AS IT may be to brave the winter cold rather than enjoy an extended slumber, 83 Grade 11 and 12 learners from schools around the country made their way to UCT over the recent holidays to take part in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment's (EBE) annual Discovery Week.

Featuring no fewer than 24 young women among its contingent, the learners spent the week learning about careers in engineering and the built environment. In addition to extensive information sessions on Campus, the UCT student volunteers who ran and organised the week took the aspiring engineers on guided industrial tours to companies such as SAPPI, WBHO, Eskom, SA Nylon Spinners, while some got to learn on-site about the workings of the Table Mountain cable car system.

Learners were also fêted with prizes and awards for building bridges out of cardboard, the winning design supporting a very impressive 66-kg. As usual, the week made a very good impression on the learners. "It was really fantastic," Hayley Conway from Port Shepstone enthused. "I now know what I want to do at UCT next year."

A generous donation of R90 000 from The Upstream Training Trust helped make the week such a success.

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