Local students from Our Lady’s Bower, Moate Community School and Athlone Community College have been recognised at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition.
Katie Commins and Alicia Lawless from Our Lady’s Bower were highly commended for their project - ‘Adaptive N and L plates for use in cars’ - in the Technology intermediate group category.
Thirteen-year-old Narmitha Premnath, also of Our Lady’s Bower, was highly commended for her project - ‘Cultivation on Ocean’ - in the Junior Technology category.
Theresa Hamm and Jack O’Donovan of Moate Community School came in second place for their project - ‘Fridge Free Freshness’ - in the Biological and Ecological intermediate group category. They designed a food storage container that works without electricity, which could be adapted for use in Third World countries.
Brian Conlon and Emma Kelly, also of Moate Community School, bagged a Display Award for their project - ‘Ireland’s Burning Problem’ - a study of the ecological impact of gorse fires on the peatland habitat, and the link between the change in peat physical properties and plant composition of the bog land.
Danielle Greasley and Jenny Seery of Athlone Community College came in second place for their project - ‘Classroom CO2 levels and its effect on student cognitive performance’ - in the Chemical, Physical and Mathematical intermediate group category.
The winner of the 54th BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition was Simon Meehan, a transition year student from Colaiste Choilm in Cork. Simon took home €7,500 as well as the perpetual trophy and an exclusive trip to Bletchley Park in the UK, the infamous World War II coding centre. He will represent Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in September this year.
Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton said: “It’s fantastic to see so many young people engaged and inspired by the STEM subjects and their application to real world problems. Outside of school, activities such as this have a critical role to play in sparking that passion in our children for science and technology and have a massive influence on their engagement with STEM in their future lives. I would like to congratulate every student, teacher and school community involved for all their hard work during the year and especially this week.”
