Miss Zainab Wakili Emerges Winner of Sheengineer STEM Contest

Miss Zainab Wakili Emerges Winner of Sheengineer STEM Contest

Zainab Wakili, who represented Junior Secondary School, Gwarinmpa Abuja has emerged winner of the Sheengineer Invent It, Build It students workshop/STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) competition, which was sponsored by the Royal Academy of Engineering, United Kingdom.

Junior Secondary School Area 11 emerged 1^st runner up while Model Secondary School, Maitama was 2^nd runner up in the competition.

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At the ceremony in Abuja, the Director and Grant Awardee of Sheengineer Invent It, Build It, Dr Felicia Agubata noted that the workshop for junior secondary school students is aimed at igniting their passion in STEM; inspiring them to be creative and innovative, as well as pursue a career in engineering.

“Our aim Is to encourage girls to enter and stay in STEM careers through this project and our areas of focus are start young, which ensures that girls are shielded from believing that they are less intellectually capable and therefore less suited for STEM. We are challenging stereotypes by exposing children to examples of women who have succeeded STEM,” Dr Felicia Agubata said.

Felicia further disclosed that the initiative is redesigning the education system by encouraging female students in secondary schools, motivating them and ensuring they see the possibilities of STEM careers. The initiative also seeks to Introduce policies and incentives for women who want to join a STEM career, collecting data, exposing gender gaps, monitoring gender gaps closely, highlighting differences in the experiences by key stakeholders and finding creative ways to encourage and promote STEM awareness. The initiative is dedicating resources to create an environment that nurtures and support Stem education.

The Sheengineer Invent It, Build It, students, workshop/STEM competition is sponsored by Royal Academy of Engineering, UK, with University of West, Scotland as its UK partner and Tributary Learning Initiative as its Nigerian partner. The academy has provided impact by igniting the passion of STEM in young African females.

Zainab Wakili, winner of the competition disclosed that she hopes to be the first female engineer to design a machine that would aid the elderly in Nigeria.