Anticipation and excitement were high on the morning of the 27 August 2011, as the GirlEng KZN team welcomed delegates and sponsors to the first GirlEng stay over weekend workshop. Once all 60 delegates arrived, they were ushered to an elegant conference room for the start of a fun filled weekend.

The weekend workshop was a 2 day event, which included a dinner function on the evening of the 27 August 2011. To kickstart the weekend, the delegates attended two workshops, “Celebrating your Individuality” and “Mentorship”. The main aim of the Celebrating your Individuality workshop was to get the delegates to understand their individuality and view themselves as a ‘brand’.  The Mentorship workshop focused on educating the delegates about how to make the most of their relationship with their mentor.

As a follow up to the Celebrating your Individuality workshop and also as a way of celebrating individuality and femininity, the delegates were given the opportunity to decorate pink hard hats in a way that represented their personality best. Another creative item was the ‘Why do I want to be an engineer’ activity, where delegates presented a song or skit expressing why they wanted to choose an engineering career.  As a follow up to the Mentorship workshop the delegates had a Speed Mentoring activity. Here the delegates were given only 5 minutes to chat to mentors, both from industry and tertiary students, and identify someone they would like to be their mentor.

The main activities for the 2^nd day of the weekend workshop were a Technical Project and putting together Sponsor Stands. For the Technical Project the delegates had to design and build a balloon car. For this the delegates needed engineering ingenuity, a little lung capacity and a lot of creativity because the engine that made the car run was the balloon!  The group with the fastest balloon car won. For the sponsor stands, the delegates were grouped and given a box containing various items from each of the GirlEng sponsors, they then had to put together a stand that best represented the sponsor they were assigned to. Sponsor stands were followed by a quick presentation and a career fair.

The Weekend workshop was a resounding success, with the GirlEng KZN team ensuring that the delegates enjoyed themselves and  interacted with their mentors at all times.  The delegates walked away with a renewed perspective on the world of engineering and immeasurable motivation to pursue their dreams. We are appreciative to our sponsors for providing us with the resources we needed to make this event memorable. It is through their contribution and a team of passionate volunteers that we can make this GirlEng dream possible.

Check the "media room" for the Weekend Camp Gallery