Five awards for Wicklow schools

WICKLOW was well represented at this year’s BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition as five schools took home awards.

The Wicklow competitors were among the 1,100 students from 375 schools who took place in this year’s event which was showcased at the RDS last week.

Avondale Community College pupils Ayyub Azmat, Niall Gaffney and Christopher Makin took third place in the intermediate group Biological and Ecological category for their project entitled ‘Biodegradable plastic pots to minimise the effects of transplant shock.’

Four further schools were highly commended for their entries.

Donovan Webb and Chloe Gannon took part in the Technology category with their project ‘Mount Usher navigator - The application of new technology to engage young people in natural tourism’.

Erin Connolly and Clodagh Moxham from St Mary’s College were also highly commended for their work which assessed ‘ The reactions of people to mothers breastfeeding in public’ in the intermediate level of the Social and Behavioural Sciences category.

Coláiste Chraobh Abhainn was represented by Oisín Cullen and Dylan Symmes who also entered the intermediate Technology section with ‘Innovations in feeding technology for livestock.’

Rachael Millea and Sashbh Cullinane from Dominican College took part in the senior Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences competition with their project ‘Can coffee be used to remove lead and other heavy metals from drinking water?’

Speaking after the winners were announced on Friday, Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton, said: ‘It is wonderful to see so many students entering the world of STEM through the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition. Initiatives such as this have a critical role to play in raising awareness and engagement around science and technology and the impact it has on every aspect of our lives. I would like to congratulate every student, teacher and school community involved for their fantastic work this week.’