I’m a bit shell shocked, I think I’m going to cry but I’m incredibly happy. My project is to help raise awareness of eco issues to younger people. I’m a massive advocate for promoting STEM to girls and getting all the opportunities out there, like the Big Bang Fair and Competition. STEM is the future and women are part of that future. Without EESW and the opportunities I have had through Lego Leagues, Girls into Stem, Science in the Senedd, F1 in Schools and the 6th Form project I don’t think I would have had the confidence to apply for this amazing prize.
Since starting F1 in schools in year 8 it has opened so many opportunities for me such as the EESW sixth form project, winning the girls on track award, judging the regional and national finals and I am now hoping to judge the world finals of F1 in schools. None of this would have been possible without EESW helping me and my team. As they have helped us develop us into young engineers though giving us numerous opportunities and helping us in any way they can.
When I was asked to compete in the CyberFirst challenge in year eight, I had no idea how engrossed I would become in STEM. After my team placed second in Wales, I was inspired to chase other opportunities such as the Lego League competition, reaching the UK Nationals with our robotics skills. Since then, I have constantly been exploring engineering activities and I am now proudly the Project Manager of Team Hypernova, whom are representing Wales at the 2024 F1 in Schools World Finals.
Enyala Banks from Cardiff 6th Form College took part in the EESW project in 2019. "Being able to partake in EESW really made me realise that Engineering was the field that I wanted to go into, as it mimicked the experience of a professional engineer! The problem we were given was to find a way to measure current in the electrified rail lines for Network Rail, and our group decided we wanted to use a hall probe. This allowed me to discover my passion for material science when looking into the most sustainable material for the probe, and has inspired me to pursue this interest studying Materials Science at university!"
From Gower College Swansea, Ioan Webber participated in the EESW project in 2018-2019 with his four friends. They worked in collaboration with TATA Steel in Port Talbot. TATA tasked the team with analysing the thermal losses through their high-temperature steam mains at their power generation plant.