The kids were able to try out a VR game on science communication at the DESY project management organization. Photo: DESY, Marta Mayer
Today, April 25, 2024, was Future Day for girls and boys throughout Germany. On this day at DESY, children from the 5th to 7th grade in Hamburg and young people from the 7th grade in Zeuthen were able to gain their first practical insights into the world of work and get to know the variety of training occupations and study opportunities. This annual day of action for initial career orientation successfully contributes to broadening the traditional, gender-specific spectrum of possible professions for women and men in technical, scientific, administrative and coordinating fields.
"I am thrilled that so many boys and girls are interested in the many different professions at DESY, and also how many DESY employees want to present their workplace today. I hope that this day at DESY will help the boys and girls - like me - to find their dream job or at least get an insight into how many different interesting professions there are.
Half of the trainees in Hamburg always choose the same 10-20 of the more than 300 training occupations; and for us at DESY, but also for many companies in Hamburg, it is important that young people choose from the whole range of occupations," said Beate Heinemann, DESY Director for Particle Physics, who welcomed the young people. The individually planned programs for the two locations started with an introductory lecture on DESY and its exciting research topics. This was followed in Hamburg by a campus tour and lunch for the almost 60 pupils. Afterwards, the children were able to get to know a work area at DESY. 26 mentors from the areas of science, technology and administration, such as the construction department, occupational safety, heating, air conditioning and ventilation technology, linear accelerators, detector technologies, personnel development, personnel marketing, library and DESY project management gave the pupils an insight into their everyday work. The day ended together in the DESY lecture hall.
In Zeuthen, the students went straight into their groups after the presentation. 32 mentors organized the day individually for around 40 young people. The participants were in 12 different areas - from scientific groups, workshops and office work to the computer center. There was a joint feedback session at the end of the day.
A highlight of the day for the young people was the personal contact with the mentors in the groups. "It was great today", "It was very varied because we were allowed to try out so much ourselves" and "My highlight was that we were able to launch and move the telescope in Namibia from Zeuthen", were some of the enthusiastic comments from the final round about the day's experiences.
Christian Stegmann, DESY Director for Astroparticle Physics and Head of the DESY site in Zeuthen, says: "It is very important to us to give schoolgirls a realistic impression of our work at an early stage. It is therefore great to see the enthusiasm with which both the young people and the DESY employees are in action on this day."
