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Inspiring the Next Generation: ‘Engineering and Green Skills for All’
26 March 2025On Thursday 20th March, students from London South East Colleges, Waltham Forest College, and Newham College united across their i-Immersive suites for a Green Skills Youth Board session. Incorporated Geotechnical Engineer, Helayna Jenkins IEng, gave a talk to students entitled ‘Engineering and Green Skills for All’. This focused on her experience as a woman in the construction industry, career pathways, and the importance of diversity in the workforce.
This Youth Board is an initiative of the Mayor’s Green Skills Academy for Local London, and this event is the first meeting of this group to be run through i-Immersive classrooms.
Helayna visited London South East Colleges in-person, with her presentation livestreamed to students at the other colleges. The i-Immersive suites are incredible technology, allowing students across the partnership to see the presentation screen clearly and hear perfectly, even when speaking at normal volume. The other classrooms can share their thoughts verbally, and the speaker can keep everyone engaged by changing their focus between the cameras in the room and students within the classroom. Many more Youth Board sessions are being planned for these spaces, to connect young people across London.
Helayna provided an inspiring discussion of initiatives which women in the construction industry can utilise. This included maternity PPE, and period product kits called ‘Wadeyz’, which Helayna created, which are distributed across construction sites. To keep the session interactive, she used Slido polls and questionnaires; students could complete these as she spoke, with responses appearing live and informing discussions.
Feedback across the partnership was overwhelmingly positive, with one student stating that she enjoyed “the support that was put out to women to get more involved in construction and engineering.” Others commented on their excitement to share their learnings with peers, and the benefits of the interactivity of the Q and A.
We are delighted that this event was such a success, and look forward to using the i-Immersive classrooms in the future to deliver further Youth Board sessions. Thank you again to Helayna for giving her time to inspire our students!
Author: Phoebe Winter, Green Skills Project Coordinator
