As soon as Keira finished her GCSE’s she knew she wanted to have a creative, hands-on career. She applied for the 2014 apprenticeship cohort at Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group in the Military Aerospace Trim shop, where she learned to install seats, cargo and other aircraft interior parts. To give the apprentices as much experience as possible they also completed a rotation in other departments such as Planning, Manufacturing Support, Scheduling and various other office roles, which gave her a 360-degree view of the business and helped her understand how every department worked together.
“I really enjoyed my rotations as it gave me an insight to each area and helped me develop my skills in different environments. Going from school to work was a big adjustment but as long as you’re prepared to work hard, organise your coursework and take on board everyone’s feedback then you’ll be fine!”
The apprenticeship involved a portfolio of evidence of projects and assessments as well as working on day-to-day activities. The 2014 intake only had three females working in a STEM environment so they had to find their feet, adjust to working in a male-centric environment.
“It’s good to see over the years I’ve been here that there are more females applying for STEM roles and diversifying the workforce.”
Keira proudly won top apprentice in her second year for all her STEM work on for LaunchPad, which is a community outreach initiative working with schools to educate and give insight to what Marshall do.
Her Military Aerospace Trim Shop apprenticeship finished in 2018 and she moved into Land Systems where she started as a Welder and Fabricator Apprentice. The Land Systems team procure huge contracts for containers for various international customers. This role involved building the assembly of containers and welding them together, or as she put it “gluing metal with metal.”
Keira left Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group in January to join the College of West Anglia as a Welder Lecturer.
“Marshall helped me tailor my personal development and improve my strengths and weaknesses. I love the learning aspect of the apprenticeship, which is why I decided to accept a role in education to develop future talent the way Marshall developed me.”
Marshall Centre are proud to be a part of Keira’s journey and that she is using the knowledge and expertise she gained at Marshall to teach the next generation of talent.