Last Saturday Girls in Tech Singapore (GITSG) and Lockheed Martin collaborated to present Ready to Launch, an event focused on the aerospace and aviation industry at the Singapore Youth Flying Club (SYFC). It was also the kickoff to a year-long partnership aimed at driving the conversation around the importance of STEM education.
Aerospace and aviation continue to be a male-dominated industry, and the partnership aims to spark serious interest in the pursuit of STEM education and careers by more female students.
GITSG x Lockheed Martin – Ready to Launch was held ahead of the Singapore Airshow, currently taking place at the Changi Exhibition Centre this weekend. All the attendees were entered into a lucky draw, with 5 pairs of tickets to the show up for grabs! Our girls showed up bright and early at the Singapore Youth Flying Club (SYFC), all smiles and eager to get going.
Our day started with an introduction to Lockheed Martin and the amazing things they are contributing to the world of aviation, defense, energy and space! David Jensen, Regional Executive of Lockheed Martin, spoke about their focus on developing the next generation of STEM talent and aim to significantly increase the number of females in the industry over the next decade.
Lockheed Martin built the F-35 fighter jet, which will be showcased for the first time in Southeast Asia at the Singapore Air Show, courtesy of the United States Marine Corps.
Lockheed Martin sponsored models of the F-35 for each guest, and our girls managed to assemble them in just a few minutes!
GITSG board member Robyn Lee then shared an overview of what Girls in Tech does; taking the audience through a journey from our roots in San Francisco, to how we’re living the mission of educating, empowering and engaging girls and women to learn and work in STEM here in Singapore.
Robyn happens to be a former student of the Singapore Youth Flying Club (SYFC) herself, and introduced David Su and Vincent Ko from the Singapore Youth Flying Club. Vincent, who is the SYFC recruitment officer, spoke about the exciting programmes they have to train and develop young pilots. The club was started in 1971 when a fleet of 8 Cessna 172s were handed down from the air force.
Did you know that it only costs SGD $28 for a Singaporean youth to qualify for the programme? Anyone can apply if they meet the minimum requirements!
Our third speaker was Marine Benoit, Vice President of Marketing at Aviation Capital Group – who shared her experiences in aviation; first as a student of aeronautical engineering, then a qualified engineer who helped make decisions on where and how to make flight routes, and now in sales and marketing for commercial jet aircraft! Aviation Capital Group is a major leasing firm serving clients such as Tiger Airways and Jetstar around the world.
Marine also shared how she got to where she is and gave our girls some heartfelt advice: to keep doing what you’re passionate about! It was a fascinating story of a woman thriving in commercial aviation, and many in the audience were absolutely enthralled.
After a short break our speakers took to the stage again for a panel session, answering questions about working in aviation and the aerospace industry. Up next was our lucky draw – with five winners getting a pair of tickets each for the highly anticipated Singapore Airshow!
Anya, one of our winners, said she was happy to be there and learnt a good deal from the session. Her mother added that she would have loved to join if programmes like this were available back in her day!
Congratulations to our lucky draw winners! Hope you all enjoy the Singapore Airshow!
The day ended with a tour of the SYFC hangar and of course, we couldn’t pass up the chance to take more photos!
Thank you to Lockheed Martin, Singapore Youth Flying Club, all our speakers and our girls plus their parents for a wonderful morning spent learning and sharing!
About our community writer
Lynette is a marketing professional in tech who’s an avid baker and loves karaoke. This is her first post for Girls in Tech Singapore.