‘Chemistry is exciting and versatile’ – with this motto, together with students from Riga Technical University (RTU), we visited Valmiera State Gymnasium to encourage young people’s interest in chemistry, and to share our experience, demonstrate chemistry experiments and introduce schoolchildren to options to study chemistry.
During the meeting, our colleague Liene Vīra told the youngsters about her progress in the world of natural science, and how she rose all the way from an intern to a product development engineer. “I was born in Valmiera and I am happy that I can work in my profession in my hometown. I like the fact that I always need be agile and that I have great colleagues who are fun to work with,” says Liene. Liene’s daily work involves developing and launching new products for the company, which involves various experiments at the plant, developing technological parameters, and collating and analysing data.
Together with other members of the Latvian Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry Association (LAĶĪFA), AS VALMIERAS STIKLA ŠĶIEDRA has joined the initiative launched by the Association and RTU. Within the framework of the initiative, during the spring semester, student ambassadors plan to visit 15 schools in 10 Latvian cities in order to get children interested in chemistry. During the meetings, schoolchildren will have a chance to learn about the importance of education and studies at the RTU Materials Science and Applied Chemistry Faculty, as well as about the overall working environment in the Latvian chemical industry and their prospects and employment options after graduation.