EESW Student of The Year Award 2023
Congratulations to all the finalists of the Engineering Education Scheme Wales (EESW) Student of the Year Award 2023
The EESW Student of the Year Award 2023 celebrates the remarkable achievements of the students that took part in the EESW Sixth Form Project during the last academic year. The award is gratefully sponsored by Industry Wales for the fifth consecutive year.
478 Year 12 students who participated in the scheme last year were invited to submit a proposal to explain why they deserve to be the EESW Student of the Year. Due to the high calibre of the applications received this year, 20 students were shortlisted for an interview in November and the judges had an extremely difficult decision to make. The finalists, accompanied by their parents and teachers, were invited to the Welsh Automotive Forum’s Annual Networking Dinner at the Vale Resort, Hensol on 30th November 2023.
Rebecca Davies, CEO of EESW, set the stage for the awards ceremony and welcomed Wales’ Minister for Education and Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles MS to announce the winner. “Our young people go above and beyond to help in their communities and further afield, and colleagues and I were extremely humbled to hear how they have achieved this by raising funding and setting up their own charities and local food banks. We are very grateful that the Welsh Government has continued to support EESW through the Education Directorate.”
The Minister welcomed the students, their parents and teachers and said:
“I’m delighted EESW is giving young people valuable STEM experiences as part of the curriculum and enabling them to discover some of the rewarding careers available in the engineering sector.
“The effort and talent displayed by the students who have taken part in the EESW Sixth Form Project is inspiring.”
The first runner up and winner of £400 was Chloe Simmonds from Coleg Gwent. Chloe worked on a project with Thales and was given the role of financial manager. When choosing the final design for their project, Chloe’s group ended up finalising on Chloe’s design: a vertical piping system within a sink pipe that harnessed energy from wastewater using a turbine. When she leaves college, Chloe hopes to study a master’s in mechanical engineering with a year in industry and it is her dream to pursue a career in Formula One, and said “The EESW sixth form project has supported me in developing my communication, innovation and creativity skills while being able to gain an insight into the field of engineering and the exciting prospects it has to offer.”
The second runner up was Sree Saranya from Rougemont School, Sree’s team were paired with CAF rail and successfully developed an automated chemical dosing system to counteract the degradation of sodium hypochlorite concentration in CAF’s cleaning tanks. Sree took on the role of team leader and assigned research tasks such as studying the bacteria, alternative dosing methods, and communicating with CAF engineers about the current system. After school, Sree is hoping to study Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London. When speaking about her experience of the Project, Sree said “The EESW Sixth form project allowed me to gain an insight into the nuances of working in an engineering project. This project honed my leadership, teamwork and technical skills.”
The overall winner of the £800 award and EESW Student of the Year 2023 was announced as Anna Petrusenko from Gower College Swansea who worked with UWTSD and Cambrian Solvents. Anna’s team developed a smart tank for online monitoring of the conditions of acids. While working on the project, Anna was able to learn many advanced programming and engineering skills and had the opportunity to work with Arduino software for the first time. When she leaves college, Anna is keen to explore a career in Astrophysics. Anna was thrilled to win the award and said “It’s truly incredible that students like me, who are willing to make their contribution and make the world a better place, receive so much support. I am incredibly grateful for that!”
