Rachael wins aprentice award

Rachael, 21, who works on the Typhoon programme at the company’s Warton site, accepted the award and a £750 holiday voucher from Olympic Silver Medallist Colin Jackson and chair of the Learning and Skills Council, Christopher Banks. Rachael is responsible for monitoring any stresses and their effects on Typhoon aircraft during flight. This data is then used by engineers to look at ways to extend the airframe life. Rachael said: “I wasn’t born with a spanner in my hand, but my interest in engineering grew after I did some work experience at BAE Systems. I would recommend any teenager to think seriously about taking the apprenticeship route, a lot of my friends went to university from school, and they are only just finishing their degrees now and looking for jobs whereas I have been in my job for four or five years.” Rachael added: "I hope to use this title to create a greater awareness of an industry that is in danger of becoming seriously short of skilled engineers. It is still quite unusual to have women entering the engineering side of things, so it is good to advertise the fact that you don’t feel segregated as a woman engineer, and there are so many opportunities here.” Rachael is studying for an Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering at Manchester Metropolitan.