STEM Ambassador Work

Our director at JB Springs, Alex Driver, volunteers as a STEM Ambassador. This involves sharing his industry knowledge and expertise through hosting talks and activities to spark an interest in STEM in younger generations. A vital part of securing a pipeline of future talent within the industry is nurturing this interest at a young age. At JB Springs, our Springtelligence initiative is just one of the ways we inform and inspire young people who are making key decisions regarding their career paths.

The National Science and Media Museum is based locally to JB Springs, in Bradford. The museum works to investigate and celebrate photography, film, television, animation, videogames and sound technologies and the science behind them.

Our Work as STEM Ambassadors

The museum wanted to produce a remote activity resource for primary schools which linked sounds with STEM jobs and asked JB Springs to contribute; it was sent to 90 schools across the country. The resource features a compilation of sound clips – of which the children were asked to guess the sound’s source. Each sound bite was accompanied by a short video from the STEM Ambassador. These videos revealed the source of the sound and explained how it relates to their role. Alex contributed sounds recorded at our spring-making facility and gave a talk explaining our work producing springs.

The initiative took place in December 2021, therefore our team at JB Springs also contributed a rendition of ‘Jingle Bells’. This was recorded using sounds made by the machines on our shopfloor.

Of the resources, a Bradford Pathways Officer commented, “Thank you for sending across these fabulous resources, I can’t wait to show them to teachers.”

Andrea Dean, STEM Ambassador Hub Coordinator, commented: “Young people begin to make career-related choices from a very early age and having enthusiastic volunteers who can share their personal career journeys as well as industry insight makes a huge difference. The impact of Alex’s contribution and that of other STEM Ambassadors is therefore significant.”