09 Mar 2023
United Utilities marks International Women’s Day with career mentoring event for Warrington pupils
United Utilities is hoping to encourage more Warrington girls into a career in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) following an event to mark International Women’s Day.
The North West water company invited 48 Year 9 pupils from Great Sankey High School to its Lingley Mere headquarters to take part in a speed mentoring session with women from across the business.
From leakage and network technicians to fleet and drainage managers, the girls met women in all sorts of roles at United Utilities to find out about their careers today and how they got there. By spending just 10 minutes with each person, the girls were able to get an insight into a range of jobs and what it’s like to work in the world of water and wastewater. By meeting apprentices, recent graduates and women further along in their careers they were also able to find out about different career paths.
United Utilities staff will be visiting the school later this month for a follow-up session where the pupils will be challenged to share what they have learnt about one of two key topics – what not to flush, or how to save water. This will help them put their presentation skills to practice and give them the chance to show their STEM knowledge.
Rachael Dingle, Environmental Strategy and Planning Manager at United Utilities, organised the visits. She said: “International Women’s Day is all about celebrating the achievements of women, and we wanted to find a way to do that while inspiring the next generation at the same time.
“Women in STEM roles at United Utilities are doing everything from detecting and repairing leaks to ensuring our water quality meets the highest standards, and the pupils from our local school were really interested to find out about them.
“It was fantastic to hear such a buzz in the room and we can’t wait to visit the girls at school and see what they’ve been learning about our industry. And then hopefully we’ll see some of them working alongside us in a few years.”
Helen Donlan, biology teacher at Great Sankey High School, added: “We’re really grateful to United Utilities for inviting our pupils along to meet some of the amazing women who work in STEM roles. It was a fantastic way for the girls to get an insight into potential careers and we hope will inspire them as they continue their studies.”