August Newsletter 2024
A warm and hopefully sunny welcome back to the new academic year to our wonderful Love Tech community! We hope you’ve had a fantastic summer and we’re excited to jump into the new academic year with you. As the leaves start to turn and the school bells ring once again, #TeamLoveTech is ready to bring you another season of exciting events, hands-on learning, and inspiring mentorship. Get ready to check out all our latest news and updates… to begin…
Space Unleashed! 🚀
We are beyond excited to announce our latest event has now ‘launched’💥
Space Unleashed with well-known local Astronomer, Howard Parkin, and Space Industry professionals, Rivers Advisers, is a fantastic opportunity for 16-18-year-old STEM enthusiasts.
Whether you’re dreaming of becoming an astronaut, engineer or space scientist or you’re simply curious about STEM, make sure you sign up to join us on Wednesday, 18th September, from 7-10 pm at The Sound Cafe for an evening filled with exploration and discovery.
Here you’ll have the chance to connect with industry professionals, including Howard himself and experts from River Advisers. The event will feature an engaging presentation, a stargazing session (weather permitting), a Q&A and networking opportunities with our event partners too. And, if this isn’t enticing enough, supper is included and it’s all FREE!
A Huge Thank You for a Stellar Summer Open Day🌟
Love Tech would love to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who made our Summer Open Day at the Manx Museum such a hit at the beginning of August. With over 200 children attending (along with their amazing parents), the day was packed with fun, learning, and plenty of excitement.
A massive shoutout to our partners, including Acclaim’s tech wizard Chris Kissack, who dazzled our young attendees with a “Cat-themed activity meets AI magic” – (think cat-shaped pasta, digital creativity and a purrfect experience for all😻).
We also want to thank Fun Science’s Emma Crellin for her STEM-azing Science Table, which kept the excitement going all day long. We hope all our budding scientists had an explosive time—though rest assured, no real explosions occurred!
For those who loved a challenge, our thanks also goes out to Code Club for their fantastic coding activity. The kids were deeply engrossed in creating a 2-player Microbit reaction game, testing their reflexes and coding skills to see who could press their button the fastest.
And a big thank you Young Engineers, IOM, too, who captivated the crowd with their Spinning Top Launchers. It was wonderful to see so many enthusiastic STEM fans coming together to build, modify, and test their creations.
To top everything off, Love Tech were also honoured to have our event supported by none other than Love Tech’s Patron, Lady Lorimer, MBE, who thoroughly enjoyed herself trying out our VR headsets and watching the children immerse themselves in all the STEM fun.
Applause all round – and an especially massive THANK YOU to Manx National Heritage for allowing us use of the museum, and Hansard for their kind sponsorship.
“It was great to see so many enthusiastic STEM fans all in one place. There was a real buzz in the air as children (and parents) were all excited to build and modify their Spinning Tops and see how that impacted the stability and momentum.” Adrian Walters, Young Engineers, IOM.
Young Nature Champion 2024 🌿
As the summer holidays come to a close, there’s still plenty of time to get involved in the Young Nature Champion Competition—a fantastic initiative we’re proud to support in partnership with UNESCO Biosphere IOM.
Open to anyone under 21, this competition encourages young creatives with a passion for nature to showcase their talents. The competition runs until November 1st, so there’s still time to participate!
Also, if you’ve been keeping an eye on our socials, you may have spotted that we roped in a few of our wonderful mentors to help give any potential entrants a few ideas for the comp.
Big thanks are therefore due to Harley Garrett, Rowan Henthorn, Heather Beck, Ruth Cooil, Kirsty Pendlebury and Dr Jennifer Stone who all came up with fun and inspiring activities to ignite your kids’ imaginations. Click right here for more information about how your child can take part.
STEM Spark – A Call to Action for Schools! 📚
Last term our brand-new, PwC Isle of Man sponsored initiative, STEM Spark, kicked off with visits to Marown and Jurby Schools. This initiative is a development of our similarly PwC sponsored, Free STEM Books in Primary Schools project of the last couple of years, with our new goal being to provide a brand-new set of free STEM titles for all our Island’s primary school libraries, along with a complementary STEM-related assembly and workshop.
Whether it’s a fun and engaging session for students or unconscious bias training for teachers, if you’re a primary school teacher, click here to sign your school up – we can’t wait to see the impact of STEM Spark in classrooms across the Island!
And now to our…
August Mentor of the Month: Harley Garrett 🌟
Again, if you’ve been checking out our socials, you might have spotted Harley, a Web Developer with a unique and truly inspirational journey into the world of STEM.
Originally an Art History student, Harley realised that the traditional arts path wasn’t quite right for her. After the first COVID lockdown, she therefore signed up for the Isle of Man Government’s Summer Internship Scheme, hoping for a job in a new industry.
During the application process, Harley just so happened to mention that she had briefly used HTML and CSS as a teenager – a small detail, but one that triggered a quick phone call to boutique web development company, Craft Applied, and sparked a life-changing opportunity.
Harley’s story is a testament to the idea that there are many routes into STEM industries – and many opportunities to be explored – where will your journey take you?
Find out all about Harley and check out her Love Tech video by clicking right here.
Stay Connected
As always, we encourage you to stay connected with us! If you missed out on tickets for our Summer Open Day, be sure to sign up for our mailing list so you never miss an event again. And if you’re a woman working in STEM on the Isle of Man and want to join an award-winning charity to make a real impact, please get in touch at contact@lovetech.im. Our mentor scheme is growing, and we’d love to have you on board.
That’s all for now! Keep an eye out for more exciting events and opportunities, and as always, stay STEM-curious 😊
Best wishes,
The Love Tech Team