Talented trio bring home excellence awards from national SciFest final
TWO COUNTY Wicklow projects were awarded Excellence in STEM Awards at SciFest 2017 last Friday.
The projects by Sean Byrne from Avondale Community College and David Kemple and Fintan Thomas Smith from Colaiste Bhride, Carnew, impressed the judges at the national final of SciFest, an all-island STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) initiative for second level students.
Fifth year student Sean caught the judges’ attention with his project ‘Glogos’, which examines alternative methods of making hi-vis clothing ‘glow’ to improve the wearer’s safety. This was done by incorporating self-illuminating materials into the jackets and by using electroluminescent tape.
In their project, David and Fintan, who are also in fifth year, examined the Effect of Music on Blood Pressure and found that energetic music increases pulse rates more than calming music. They also carried out a class test to demonstrate that students listening to calming music during a test had better results than those listening to energetic music.
Dr Ruth Freeman from the Science Foundation Ireland, presented Seán, David and Fintan with their excellence awards.
All three had secured their place at the national final after their success at the SciFest regional final in IT Carlow.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of SciFest and saw a record number of over 10,000 students participating in local and regional SciFest STEM fairs across the country. Since its inception in 2008, over 50,000 students have participated in the competition, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 23 per cent in participation. The three Wicklow students were among 42 students who went on to exhibit their 26 STEM projects at the national final.