Seven pupils from an Angus secondary school have scooped the top prize in a national science competition with their innovative climate change project.
The Carnoustie High School pupils competed at the annual Big Bang Competition, which recognises young people’s achievements in STEM subjects, where they were awarded the prestigious Stantec Future Communities Award.
Matthew Booth, Cameron Start, Chrystalla Inglis, Josh Hirst, Andrew Turner, Christophe Parke and Callum Ireland wowed the judges with their ‘Building for Climate Change’ project.
Selected from more than 300 youngsters from across the UK, the team developed a model house that would be resilient to extreme weather conditions that could be faced as result of climate change.
The award recognised the Carnoustie team for demonstrating how science and engineering can advance quality of life across the globe.
The students were awarded £500 and a trip to see engineering in action.
The final, which was set to be held in March, was cancelled due to the coronavirus, but the team instead impressed judges with a video presentation.
Hilary Leevers, chief executive of EngineeringUK, which organises the competition, said the students innovative ideas “bodes well for the future”.
She said: “The judges have been blown away by the quality of entries from all the finalists – not only for their brilliant new ideas but for how eloquently they spoke about them in their videos.
“We’ve also been really impressed with all of the students for their passion and resilience in taking part this year in spite of the hugely challenging circumstances, including some students being in self-isolation during the process.
“Huge congratulations to the students whose innovative project stood out for special recognition.
“It certainly bodes well for the future that the scientists, engineers and inventors of tomorrow are already producing such astute and create project work – congratulations to all those involved.”
Liz Chapman, Design Director at Stantec, said: “We are delighted to take part in The Big Bang Competition.
“Once again, the high standard of projects made judging very difficult. Therefore, the winners of this year’s Stantec Future Communities Award should be extremely proud of what they achieved.
“Our world faces challenges like never before and it’s inspiring to see talented and creative young people who will lead the way as incredible future scientists and engineers.
