Newland House School takes Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland top prize at the Big Bang Competition!
Students Sam Edwards, William Dummett, Henry Bramall and Edward Mason from Newland House School were honoured with the Rotary Prize for Environmental and Scientific Advancement at The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition.
The student wowed the judges with their project entitled ‘A Low Cost Solar Water Heating System for Use in Romania’.
A charity working in Romania asked the students to design and build a low cost solar water heating system.
It would be used by visitors staying in a newly restored Christian Hospitality Centre in the remote Romanian countryside.
Jean Billingsley, Director of ESRAG (the Environmental Sustainability Rotarian Action Group) commented, “One of the stand out reasons for us choosing this Newland House School’s project as the winner was because it was more than just an idea, it had practical sustainability. Their contact with the Romanian charity allowed them to not only identify the need, but research it thoroughly and actually implement a working solution.”
The students will be awarded with an experience day to enable them to advance their knowledge and understanding of the issue that they have addressed.
Sam, William, Henry and Edward from Newland House School were chosen from over 500 finalists from across the country in The Big Bang UK Young Scientists and Engineers Competition after pitching their project to judges.
In addition, Josh Mitchell, aged 18 from Holmes Chapel took the UK Young Engineers of the Year prize and Emily Xu, aged 18 from Dulwich, London was crowned GSK UK Young Scientist of the Year.
The Big Bang Competition is an annual contest designed to recognise and reward young people’s achievements in all areas of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), as well as helping them build skills and confidence in project-based work.
It was more than just an idea, it had practical sustainability.”
“It certainly bodes well for the future that the scientists, engineers and inventors of tomorrow are already producing such astute and creative project work.”
Denis Spiller, President of Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland said: “We were delighted to take part in The Big Bang Competition again in 2018 and sponsor the Rotary Prize for Environmental and Scientific Advancement.
Rotary is committed to transforming communities and tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges.
This year a major focus is environmental sustainability and it is fascinating to see the work of these talented young people in this area.
Rotary has also pioneered the campaign to eradicate polio from the world. With Rotary’s fundraising, volunteering and advocacy, over 2.5 billion children have been protected from the disease, with the number of global cases down by 99.9%.”
It is very exciting to see how the research and ideas from these young people could one day change the world.
All of the projects were fantastic which made judging really difficult, but the work by this year’s winners was particularly impressive.”
For more information and to enter next year’s competition, click here.
