Abbott Longford volunteers bring engineering to life for hundreds of students

At a special series of events the volunteer engineers demonstrated unique experiments to introduce engineering concepts to students, and talked about the wealth of career opportunities that exist for engineers.

The events are run as part of Engineers Week, a programme of nationwide events which ran from March 4 to March 10. The purpose of the campaign is to create positive awareness of, and spark enthusiasm about, the engineering profession among young people. 

Demonstrating the many real world applications of engineering was one of the key aspects of the event. Across the week 10 engineers from Abbott Diagnostics facility in Longford spoke to almost 100 students. This included visits to the Longford facility by Scoil Mhuire, St Joseph's and Loughegar National School. Here they heard about the various pathways students can take to achieve an Engineering qualification and the career opportunities available in the local area.

Additionally, Abbott partnered with STEAM Education to deliver a new programme, Engingeering in a Box, to the students. These one off programmes provide children with aged 9 to 12 with an interactive workshops on electricity and electronic engineering.

Speaking about Engineers Week, Ciaran Corcoran, at Abbott’s Longford facility said, “At Abbott, we realise our full potential by helping others realise theirs. This idea is at the core of our business and  our interaction with the local Longford community. By leveraging Abbott’s expertise in innovative research and development, we believe that inspiring the young people of today can produce the scientific leaders of tomorrow."

More than 500 students, from primary and secondary schools around the country, will be reached by more than 50 volunteers from six different Abbott facilities. Abbott has a strong culture of giving and over the past two years their employees delivered more than 11,000 volunteer hours nationwide.