A total of 846 Westmeath students have exhibited 437 projects in the RDS over the past 49 years as part of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition. The figures were revealed this week as the BT Young Scientist prepares to celebrate its 50th year.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny was the first to wish the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition a happy 50th birthday this week at the launch of a milestone year for the exhibition.
Westmeath was well represented at the most recent exhibition in January 2013, with 12 projects from the county’s secondary schools on display, including six from Our Lady’s Bower, Athlone, three from Moate Community School, and three from Marist College, Athlone.
BT estimates that more than 65,000 students entered over 31,000 projects in the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition over the past 49 years.
BT is now calling on all past entrants, visitors, teachers, and supporters to connect with the exhibition again and send their Happy Birthday messages and memories via a virtual birthday card, Facebook, and Twitter. Simply go to www.btyoungscientist.com/birthday or www.facebook.com/btyste, or use #btyste50 on Twitter to send your birthday wishes and BT will collate the messages. A selection of the most special birthday wishes will be projected onto the RDS, Dublin during the 50th exhibition in January 2014.
The birthday card is accompanied by a new digital archive created by BT, which displays unique material and iconic moments of the last 49 years of the exhibition. In addition to photographs from throughout the decades, the archive also includes indexed exhibition guides, forming a searchable database of students that competed in the programme.
The archive is available at www.btyoungscientist.com/archive and BT is calling on old friends of the exhibition to re-connect on their Facebook page to share their memories.
