Engineers Ireland’s STEPS programme is calling on Brownies and Guides nationwide to take the STEPS Engineering Challenge to become Ireland’s Top Guide and Brownie Engineers.

Using the Irish Girl Guides Engineering Badge Challenge Book, Brownies (aged 7-10)  and Guides (aged 10-14) are encouraged to devise an innovative project or product that would help their Girl Guide Unit, an individual Brownie or Guide member or the Girl Guide community.

Each entry submitted before the 30 April deadline will be judged by the Engineers Ireland STEPS Dragons, with the winners crowned ‘Ireland’s Top Guide Engineers’ or ‘Ireland’s Top Brownie Engineers’. Each winner will also receive a Bricks 4 Kidz STEM Voucher for a STEM workshop for their Unit.

In 2019, during the inaugural year of the competition, Aoife McGovern (aged 9) and her fellow Brownies from Clogherhead, County Louth were crowned Ireland’s Top Brownie Engineers for their project on water conservation and reuse. Speaking about their project entry, Aoife said: "I'm really happy to have won, I've learned a lot more about saving water and realise how saving water is so important! I am happy to have been a part of it and I liked working with the team on the Lego project which gave me the idea for the entry."

All Brownies and Guides are welcome to take the STEPS Engineering Challenge. Completing the challenge takes between 1.5 and three hours. Entries should be made using the Challenge Workbook and posted to arrive at STEPS Engineers Ireland, 22 Clyde Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 by 30th April. Entries may be completed using pencil, pen, crayon or felt tip markers.

For more information, email: steps@engineersireland.ie

The Engineers Ireland STEPS Programme is a non-profit outreach programme that promotes interest and awareness in engineering as a future career to school students in the Republic of Ireland through a portfolio of projects. STEPS is supported and funded by Science Foundation Ireland, the Department of Education and Skills and Industry leaders ARUP, ESB, Intel and TII.