A GROUP of talented girls from a Flintshire high school participated in a full day of interactive workshops designed to encourage young women to achieve and succeed in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects and careers.

Eighteen Year 8 and 9 students from Ysgol Treffynnon attended the SMART Materials Day 2019 which was held at Wrexham Glyndwr University. Girls from four other schools from the wider area also attended.

The event is particularly designed to benefit more able girls who have shown some aptitude for STEM subjects by raising their aspirations and engagement to help them to achieve top grades.

Delivered by academics, local businesses, and Techniquest Glyndwr, the hands-on workshops focused on the use and impact of SMART materials on everyday life.

All the activities were funded and arranged by Glyndwr University and Reaching Wider.

The definition of a smart material is a material that has an unusual or useful reaction when something is done to it. Examples include superconductors, vantablack, aerogel and hydrophobic materials, all of which were available for the students to see.

Amongst the activities the girls took part in was working with 'magic snow', a polymer that can absorb over one hundred times its amount of water, and programming Lego robots.

Female apprentices from Airbus talked about career paths offered by the company and then organised a challenge for the girls to build tall helipads to support a toy helicopter and weights. In the afternoon, the girls were given a lecture looking different SMART materials and how they can be used in the wider world.

Megan Edwards said: “I really enjoyed making the magic snow because it taught us the science behind it and how this is used on a daily basis.”

Jessica Hall added: “I enjoyed coding the Lego robots and using trial and error to make sure they worked correctly.”

Mr Darren Higgins, science teacher at Ysgol Treffynnon, accompanied the girls.

He said: “One of the main aims of the day was to inspire girls to consider careers in STEM as they are so underrepresented in this field.

“The workshops were excellent and provided a great opportunity for the girls to engage and experiment with different technologies. They have learned more about the options in further and higher education that they might not have previously considered, and the huge variety of exciting and fulfilling careers within science.

“It was a very beneficial day for the girls, and they have all enjoyed it enormously. I was so proud of them and the way they tried every activity with enthusiasm. They were a credit to themselves and the school.”