Sea Cadets and partners Seafarers UK are celebrating after receiving recognition at the 2019 Maritime UK Awards on 19 September. 

The Marine Engineering Pathway project, run by Sea Cadets and funded by Seafarers UK, won the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) category - sponsored by DFDS – at the prestigious awards ceremony held in Southampton.

The event staged in the presence of Maritime Minister, Nusrat Ghani MP, recognised the partnership which began in 2015. The project offers tailored, specific workshops which teach key national curriculum concepts that relate to marine engineering.  Pupils will learn how and why things float, are then tasked to build a boat and challenged to see how much cargo it can hold before it sinks. MEP1, which concluded this year, engaged with 18,000 students while MEP2 (2019 – 2022) is expected to reach in excess of 37,500 students in its lifetime. 

Sally Wilkinson, STEM Program Manager for MEP, said, “This award is fantastic recognition for the hard work and dedication of the team over the last few years. Looking forward, we aim to increase our engagement with younger students, and build on the foundations already laid with key stage three students.  We will also be introducing new workshops and POD taster sessions”.

Many thanks go to our partners Seafarers UK for their funding and co-operation which has led to this award. It’s a credit to staff running the programme that they should be recognised in this way. The Marine Engineering Pathway project is succeeding in introducing the principles of marine engineering to students and long may that work continue.

Martin J Coles, CEO, Sea Cadets