Reflections from school outreach at Carlton Keighley

Two of our data scientists, Liz Kelly and Amaia Imaz Blanco, recently spent a Wednesday morning doing speed networking with year 8 and year 10 students at Carlton Keighley organised by @Ahead Partnerships. In our team, outreach like this is incredibly important, and Liz's write-up of her experience is a great reminder of why.

Back on the 11th March, myself and a fellow data scientist took part in a digital themed school outreach event organised by Ahead Partnership, for Year 8 and Year 10 students at Carlton Keighley. There were around 15 work ambassadors, including us, from across the digital space including Human Resources in the NHS, logistics/transport, digital career advisors etc. This was a speed networking event, so we had 7 minutes per table where the students asked us questions about our career.

At every table I asked what roles the students thought existed in the NHS. The usual suspects were mentioned: doctor, nurse, physio, receptionist etc. … but no mention of "data scientist". This is no surprise – I wasn't aware data and technology roles existed in the NHS until I was applying for jobs after university!

Now on to the questions themselves … A popular approach was to sit in complete silence and not show any interest in what we were saying … imagine chirping crickets, rolling tumbleweeds. A real test of those communication skills. Another was to ask questions on anything but our career (apparently the car I drive and how many kids I have is extremely integral). A particularly great question was "what is the meaning of life?". Sadly, "42" was lost on many … Of course, in amongst these were great questions on "what do you do in a day?", "what was your first job?", "what tips would you give to us?". We just had to work a little harder to find them.

It was lovely to introduce a new career to the students, to expand their horizons just a little more. What better way to spend a Wednesday.

If even one student goes home thinking "hm, maybe data science is something I could do" , that's a win.

If you have outreach opportunities you think we'd be interested in, we'd love to hear from you at datascience@nhs.net. And if this has inspired you to do some outreach of your own, do let us know!