Championing our Sustainability goal to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) amongst young people, our team in Vado Ligure, Italy, set up a virtual session to help cement student understandings about building a future career in STEM, with a distinct focus on safety throughout.

The Infineum team, comprised of Vado Site Manager Marco Giorcelli, Human Resources Assistant Cristina Rizzi, and Contact Engineer Sara Montaldo, began with an introduction to Infineum and the Vado site. They made the event interactive for students at the local school ‘Instituto Comprensivo Savona’, and covered topics on innovation, digitalization, and sustainability.

The children were also taught about the seriousness of safety by our colleagues and wore safety helmets throughout the session as a reminder of this.

This session was part of an initiative named ‘Fabbriche Aperte Giovani’ which translates to ‘Open House for Students’. Infineum Italia helped develop this project when it was set up in 2008 and continues to support it, especially as it is closely aligned with our Sustainability agenda.

Fortunately, the virtual set-up didn’t hinder the student’s enthusiasm to get involved in the session, as Cristina explained: “A virtual visit wasn’t difficult for the students to follow, perhaps because they are familiar with online lessons due to the recent lockdowns. This easily explains their high levels of engagement and a huge number of quick-fire questions!”

Marco was particularly impressed by the types of questions the students asked. He said: “I was very pleased by the interest of the students to better understand the opportunities and challenges offered by working in a chemical company. These initiatives help to promote the study of STEM subjects and hopefully build the foundations for attracting our future colleagues.”

And whilst Sara Montaldo was more than happy to be involved in a virtual set-up, she was looking forward to meeting students face-to-face in the future. “After this experience, I will be happy to share our passion for STEM again when the opportunity arises to host students in person at our Site!”, she said.