Rachel Hayden

"I have always been a team-player from playing sports and singing in choirs to working in teams on building projects and so I'm not too surprised with my personality types of coach, coordinator and manager. I always think to myself that no matter the size of the project, it always takes more than one person for a project to be a success. I believe that every single individual working on a project no matter how big or small has a part to play and so it is vital that civil engineers enjoy working in teams. I also enjoy taking on a leadership role within teams, ensuring that everyone feels valued and understands the crucial part they each play. "

"I am about to start my final year of my civil engineering degree at the University of Bath and cannot wait to start work as a Graduate next year. I have had the opportunity to complete work experience with Laing O'Rourke during my degree, from the Hinkley Worker's Campus in Somerset to The Grange University Hospital, a £350 million super hospital in South Wales for 12 months for my year in industry. The thing that I enjoy most is that everyday is different and I get to work closely with amazing people to build things which will make a real difference to people's lives. I think the best thing is that once a job is finished you leave a legacy behind and you can say that \"I built that\"!"

"Winning a competition to build a bridge out of pasta when I was 15 started my civil engineering journey. I then went onto receive an Arkwright Scholarship which enabled me to have some wonderful opportunities and take A-levels in Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Music. After receiving an ICE QUEST Scholarship with Laing O'Rourke, I started my civil engineering degree in 2016 at the University of Bath. I went onto complete summer placements with the company and a year in industry at The Grange University Hospital. I have also won national awards including the Ford Women in STEM 2017, Royal Academy of Engineering Leaders Scholarship in 2019 and spent three weeks visiting projects across Australia after winning the UK Construction and Engineering Undergraduate of the Year 2018. One of the people that inspires me is Linda Miller. Whilst still at school, I managed to get some work experience at Crossrail Farringdon Station where Linda Miller was Project Manager at the time. She inspires me because she is a fantastic Project Manager who has led some huge infrastructure projects around the world. She has so much drive and energy that empowers every individual in her team to produce work of the highest standard and make a real difference. She also spends a lot of time encouraging more young people to become engineers."

"Believe it or not, if I wasn't a civil engineer I would have become an Opera Singer! Therefore, my dream is to one day build an opera house and then sing in it! I have grade 8 in piano, flute and singing and am a member of the National Youth Chamber Choir of Great Britain, which has led to me performing in multiple Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and I've even recorded a CD at Abbey Road Studios! I also sing in a semi-professional choir in Bath called Bath Camerata, who I toured round China and Mongolia with last summer. From a young age I have always played a lot of sport but I particularly enjoy playing netball and hockey. I play GA in netball and centre midfield in hockey as I normally have a lot of energy so do a lot of running around. I also spend a lot of my time encouraging young people to become engineers as a STEM Ambassador. If it wasn't for those people taking the time to run a competition for GCSE students to build a bridge out of pasta when I was 15, I might have never become an engineer myself and so I feel it is important to give back and it's also a lot of fun."

"As a civil engineering student I would have approximately eight lectures or seminars a week on top of laboratory sessions and group projects. One of the reasons why I love studying civil engineering is the range of modules you get to take. We cover everything from maths, to structures, to geotechnical engineering, to hydrualics, to surveying, to computer aided design and coding, to materials science and even construction management and law. At Bath we also do lots of group projects with the Architects, for example this year we had eight weeks to design a bridge in Bristol. When on placement, as a Student Engineer I did a lot of setting-out and surveying, ensuring that things were being built in the right place to specification. At the Grange University Hospital, I was responsible for leading a team to complete a £3 million pound package, installing 241 pre-manufactured bathroom pods into the hospital. I would get to work early around 7:00am, check my emails and then brief my team on the activities for the day ahead. I would then be responsible for ensuring that everything was installed to specification, completing quality documentation and eventually handing the package over to the client. I would spend some of the day in meetings with other members of the team to ensure that everyone knew what was going on and to discuss any upcoming risks and find solutions to mitigate them."

"I achieved A*AAA in Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Music at A-level, and am currently completing my MEng Civil Engineering (with a year in industry) degree at the University of Bath. As I want to become a Project Manager one day, I also completed my PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner qualification this year. "