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Solar Car Persuasive Essay

Satisfactory Essays

Western Sydney University Engineering student, Valerie Jochico is one of four girls out of the 50 students who will be competing in Bridgestone’s World Solar Car Challenge early next month. Valerie, alongside her teammates will race against 30 other countries from Darwin to Adelaide across some of the world’s most challenging landscapes. This year the event will reach its 30th anniversary as it celebrates its relentless passion for a sustainable future. Throughout the building process of the solar car, Valerie contributed largely to logistics and IT, playing not only a critical role in the design of the brake system, but also how the students will survive in the desert during the 40-day period. “When I originally joined there was only one other girl on the team. It was a bit of a boys club,” she said. Valerie says at …show more content…

The team will drive as far as they can until 5:00pm where they must stop and camp in the desert till morning when the race resumes. “As a part of the logistics, team we are well prepared for what our team needs to survive, but sometimes things don’t go to plan. I am confident that our team’s cooperation will be able to figure anything out,” says Jochico. The current Australian STEM workforce is made up of 72% males and 28% woman with the gender pay gap standing at 30.1%. According to Professionals Australia, this is becoming an increasing issue as women are underrepresented in a way that promotes gender segregation and stereotypes. Western Sydney University’s Woman in Science and Engineering (WISE) program is addressing these issues by promoting and inspiring girls throughout their degree whilst also providing them with opportunities to meet employers visit workplaces and attend industry events. The female students also have access to a mentoring program, which pairs them with professionals in their field for career advice and

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