ExxonMobil Qatar’s Professional Women’s Network, EMRA’A, recently partnered with Injaz Qatar to hold its inaugural ‘Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day’ at the Al Bayan School for Girls in Doha.
The event is an extension of an annual programme ExxonMobil hosts in the US, designed to increase young girls’ awareness of careers related to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and provide real-life examples about what a career in these fields could mean for them.
More than 30 female students from grades seven to nine took part in activities led by a group of 15 ExxonMobil volunteers.
To introduce the students to concepts of engineering, budgeting and project management, the volunteers organised a team competition that challenged them to build a load-bearing bridge out of raw spaghetti and marshmallows.
After the activity, volunteers spoke extensively about their own professional experiences as females in STEM fields and explained the importance of engineering in today’s world.
“Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day is all about inspiring a generation who might grow up to be the great innovators and problem solvers of the future,” said Jumana Larri, senior developer for ExxonMobil Qatar.  Injaz Qatar CEO Emad Khaja said: “We are very pleased to partner with ExxonMobil Qatar in this inaugural Introduce a Girl to Engineering event. This joint effort is about inspiring girls with the possibilities of engineering and all the interesting, fun and unique things engineering can empower them to do.”
He added: “As we work to develop our programmes at Injaz Qatar, we understand that we must expand our vision to prepare more than just the future members of our workforce – we want to prepare the leaders of tomorrow and provide them with as many learning opportunities as we can.”
Each year, EMRA’A hosts an event that aims to serve the needs of the community.
This year, the ExxonMobil Qatar women’s network chose to highlight STEM education, a priority area for ExxonMobil worldwide.
In Qatar, ExxonMobil works with valued local partners such as Injaz Qatar to develop programmes that educate and nurture the scientists, engineers and mathematicians that will help sustain Qatar’s future knowledge-based society.