This week I had the chance to volunteer with the Air League at the full-day SciENGINEERING event in Millennium Point, Birmingham, and it was such a fun and inspiring day.
One stand and lots of exciting workshops!
We ran interactive workshops for school groups from Years 5–8 across the West Midlands, showcasing the exciting side of aviation and engineering. We also had an amazing stand in the foyer! It’s always amazing to see young people’s eyes light up when they get hands-on with science and flight.
In our first workshop, we set up four rotational STEM stations in a break-out room to explore the four forces of flight.
Students got stuck into activities like the gravity drop test, simulating lift with a rotating model aircraft, and using hairdryers to demonstrate Bernoulli’s principle. Seeing some of the kids grasp the concepts so quickly, and even explaining them to their friends, was really impressive — especially for Year 7–10 students. A few of them even asked questions that made me stop and think about how to explain flight in a simpler way.
More workshops. More inspiring!
The second workshop was in the main hall, where students made their very own engraved name tags. This proved to be incredibly popular! It was simple, but it got everyone engaged and created a chance to start conversations about aviation, engineering, and the Air League’s opportunities.
What I loved most about the day was seeing their passion and excitement. There’s something really special about inspiring young people — watching them discover something new, get hands-on, and leave buzzing with ideas. Some students already had a good grasp of concepts like combustion or lift, while others were learning for the first time. Either way, it was clear that curiosity and enthusiasm are contagious.
Being able to share that excitement and help ignite a spark in these students reminded me why I love volunteering for the Air League. There’s nothing quite like seeing young minds engage, ask questions, and start imagining themselves in aviation or engineering roles in the future.
Days like this leave you feeling inspired too — it’s not just about teaching, it’s about learning from their curiosity and energy. Hopefully, some of the students walked away thinking, “I could do this too!”