Global Victoria threw their full support behind an all-girl F1 in Schools team from Albert Park Secondary College to help them compete at the Australian National Finals held in Melbourne earlier this month.
Collectively known as team Momentum, manager Caroline, design engineer Ami, manufacturing engineer Matilda, and graphic designer Agnes have spent the best part of a year doing whatever it takes to be at peak performance for the finals.
Momentum approached Global Victoria late last year asking for support and advice about the design of their F1 display booth for the finals. And so over the next few months team Momentum and Global Victoria formed a close collaboration to come up with an innovative and show stealing design of their booth.
Global Victoria extended their offer of support by helping Momentum with their campaign launch. Over 50 guests convened at the Investment Centre Victoria to hear the girls share their journeys so far in the competition. Guest speakers at the launch included Global Victoria's CEO, Gönül Serbest and Victoria's lead scientist Dr Amanda Caples who both spoke enthusiastically about team Momentum's achievements and the importance of supporting girls with a passion for the STEM early in life.
From garnering a range of impressive sponsorship deals, designing their uniforms and display booth, putting together a sophisticated marketing campaign and engineering their fifth F1 prototype car, finding a balance between the competition and school life has been a challenge.
Getting to the finals was no small task for the girls, but essential life skills gleaned along the way have made the effort well worth it. Skills such as learning how to work effectively as a team, time management, utilising a sense of enquiry, and growing in self-confidence has been invaluable for the team who unanimously agreed that being a part of the competition has been the one of the most rewarding experiences of their lives.
F1 in Schools is regarded as the world's most competitive STEM competition involving over 17,000 schools in 44 countries where students design, make and race a miniature F1 car capable of 0-80 KM/H in under 1 second.
The finals
Momentum competed at the National Finals over the course of the week, setting up their booth display and presenting their work through a series of stages. And by weeks end, Momentum took out the award for their class for Outstanding Industry Collaboration and came 10th out of a field of 17.
A strong and supportive education that encourages the interests of girls in STEM is key to building a solid base for future STEM education, skills development and career choice - Australian Government's Advancing Women and Girls in STEM
Always moving forward
Without doubt, STEM subjects make up the very lifeblood of team Momentum. Ami said that STEM will always be front and centre of her career choice and shows a special interest in engineering and sciences.
Matilda hopes to study to be a surgeon, a chemist or a mechanical or structural engineer, and to start her own business one day. Agnes is certain that STEM will always be her passion and has special interest in psychology and biomedical sciences.
Caroline reflected that she felt inspired by the mentoring Momentum received by Gönül and Dr Caples and hopes to see herself in a position where she can help others and the younger generation one day.
Supporting females in STEM – from the ground up
Global Victoria's support of team Momentum was part of their inaugural all-women's business summit, GVw which took place earlier this month.
GVw saw more than 60 international femal business leaders and innovators from STEM, sport and transport travel to Melbourne to connect with over 250 Victorian business women, exchange ideas and develop global partnerships.
