Les Cordées de la réussite: a wonderful opportunity for all participants

"Les Cordées aims to make career guidance a real lever for equal opportunities," explains Isabelle Duband, the teacher in charge of the program. "It has two components: the first involves tutoring by student volunteers, and the second involves organizing events such as museum visits or participation in a film festival."

Introducing the fields of engineering

On April 17, the campus will welcome around 20 middle school students to introduce them to the fields of engineering and manufacturing processes. "Thanks to the support of colleagues and students, the young people will take part in a foundry practical and a CAD workshop," explains Isabelle Duband.
In May, two activities will be organized: a visit to the Cité des Sciences and the National Assembly in Paris for one group, and a visit to the Musée des Confluences and an exhibition on Pompeii in Lyon for another group.
"This opens up new horizons for these students from Mâcon, for whom going to Lyon is already quite an adventure!" exclaims Isabelle Duband. "These days outside the school setting are a reward for everyone and help to strengthen bonds."

Provide information on the various career paths

More broadly, Cordées de la réussite enables middle and high school students to benefit from tutoring and also provides them with information about different career paths. "I encourage students to talk about their own experiences and ask young people what interests them," says Isabelle Duband. "Too often, they feel overwhelmed by their career choices due to a lack of information. The main goal is to build their self-confidence."

An openness that is a real plus for a future manager

"Ultimately, Cordées de la réussite provides a wonderful opportunity for all participants," concludes Isabelle Duband. "Not only for middle and high school students, of course, but also for student tutors who are confronted with a certain social reality. It's a real bonus for a future manager!"
Not to mention that participating in this initiative, which is in line with the valuesArts et Métiers to raise the profile of the institution thanks to the numerous articles devoted to it in the local press!
In Cluny, the program is funded by the French Ministries of National Education and Higher Education, as well as by the prefecture for the two institutions in Mâcon located in priority neighborhoods under the city's urban policy.

In Lille too

Since the start of the 2024 academic year, the Lille campus has joined the Cordées de la réussite program, an initiative launched by Maxime Kuchinski and Michaël Debarge, 2IG Méca facilitators and trainers.
As part of this program, the campus will welcome groups of middle and high school students for two special days. The goal is to introduce them to careers and training programs in the industrial sector.
Accompanied by their teachers, the students will meet faculty and students on campus, tour laboratories and classrooms, and immerse themselves in hands-on projects, such as building skateboards or trophies.
In addition to these two days, some middle and high school students will continue their discovery of the industrial world through company visits or research on other schools and training programs.
"Each day spent on campus allows middle and high school students to gather useful information about the academic world, and more specifically about our engineering school. This helps them to plan for their higher education. This program represents a real opportunity for young people to participate in practical activities, such as casting parts in a foundry or programming industrial robots. As my job is to inspire vocations in the field of mechanical engineering, this Cordées de la réussite program is very meaningful to me," comments Maxime Kuchinski, one of the two teachers leading the project
Michaël Debarge, the second teacher involved, adds: "Very often, the students we meet are surprised by the range of training available and the many industrial fields that exist. Mechanics, for example, is not just about automotive mechanics! The aim of these open days is also to showcase the many disciplines taught and practiced in our workshops. We hope to see some of the students we met again in a few years' time in our materials practicals!"

"We have partnered with schools in the Lille European Metropolis, but we have also approached schools in rural areas that are further away from the campus and more isolated. The aim was to show students from these schools that the Arts et Métiers campus is accessible Arts et Métiers , not only because the school is public and has low tuition fees, but also because it is well served by public transport and accessible by train," explain the two teachers.

To help supervise the various activities on offer and coach the different groups of middle and high school students, six to seven students from the Grande École Program agreed to join the adventure and commit to around 20 half-days throughout the year.

"For our first edition of Cordées de la réussite on the Lille campus, we wanted to mark the occasion and go even further in order to raise awareness among young girls about careers in engineering," conclude the two teachers. As a result, 12 all-female groups are participating in the program this year, designing and manufacturing a multi-technique trophy using the various platforms available in our workshops (forging, casting, 3D printing, welding, etc.).

Each of these groups will be invited on February 5 to the first edition of the afternoon event "Women in Industry," organized with the support of the association Femmes Ingénieures, to present their project. Families and teachers are invited, as well as representatives from the local education authority and the municipalities where the participating schools are located, to discover these projects and award prizes.

For the occasion, four female engineers also volunteered to share their experiences with the young people present: a technician, an engineer, and two students currently studying engineering on campus.