Caroline Schalk is a world champion. In 2023, she and her team won first place in the World Finals of “Formula 1 in schools”, a multidisciplinary technology competition “with the aim of inspiring the engineers of tomorrow”. School students develop a miniature racing car on the computer, build it themselves and race it against the vehicles of other teams. In addition to the technical challenge, the teams have to find their own sponsors, draw up their own financial plans and sell themselves and their technology through marketing, media work and public relations. Caroline was Marketing and Sponsorship Manager and Sustainability Officer in her team. “At the time, it fitted in well with my career aspirations to go into marketing or management,” says the 19-year-old.
And she has been interested in technology since she was a child anyway, partly inspired by her parents, who both work in engineering. Caroline also initially saw herself in this field, but back-pedaled and set her sights on studying economics after graduating from high school. “I lost the confidence in myself to become an engineer and thought that I would be much more flexible with business studies.” Her experience of shying away from electrical engineering or a similar course of study despite her technical aptitude, interest and role models at home not only led her to join the advisory board for the young talent issue, but also inspired her own contribution. “Hopefully we can motivate a few young women to study electrical engineering who didn’t have the confidence to do so before.” And Caroline herself? Has not yet decided and is currently looking for degree programs that combine business and engineering.
