Your engineering is amazing, Grace
Clever schoolgirl wins national award for her scanner
16.06.2017 A smart schoolgirl has picked up a national engineering award after using her brain to devise a scanner that will tackle food waste.
Grace Clark, 10, was chosen as one of two winners in her year at the recent Scottish Engineering Leaders Awards 2017 in Glasgow for her idea to create a food scanner that people could use in their homes to alert them when food had to be used to avoid it going out of date.
Grace, who is a P5 pupil at St Fillan’s Primary School, in Houston, was among more than 12,000 primary and secondary pupils from across Scotland who entered the awards, which are run by Primary Engineer and supported by engineers across the country.
The awards look to create links between schools and industry by having engineers visit classrooms and speak with the children about their work as a way to get them enthused about science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects.
Grace said: “I came up with the idea for the food scanner after seeing my mum throw out food that was past its sell-by date.
“I thought it would be really helpful if there was something in the house that told you when you had to use up the food in your fridge and cupboards.
“I was really happy and surprised to win the award because I know a lot of kids entered the competition.
“I’m not sure yet what I want to do when I grow up but I did enjoy learning about all the different things engineers do and coming up with an idea to solve a problem.”
In addition to Grace’s success seven other pupils from the school were also shortlisted for awards.
Two of those pupils, Caragh McAuley and Zara McGowan from Primary 1 and 2, were selected to have their work displayed in the University of Strathclyde’s Barony Hall in the weekend following the award ceremony.
Councillor Jim Paterson, convenor of Education and Children’s Services at Renfrewshire Council, said: “It’s inspiring to see our pupils do so well on a national stage especially in STEM areas.
“Grace should be very proud of what she has achieved.
“By developing and encouraging children to have an interest in these subjects from a young age we are helping to open their minds to the exciting career opportunities that science, technology, engineering and mathematics can offer.”
This marks the third time St Fillan’s Primary School has entered the awards.
The school’s improvement plan has a real focus on STEM subjects and, to help introduce the pupils to STEM, teachers carried out a series of introductory sessions to engage the pupils with the subjects covering areas like electric cars, bridges and even flood defences to broaden their knowledge of the subjects.
Jennifer Kaney, who helps lead the STEM programme at St Fillan’s, added: “We have been committed to showing our pupils the range of jobs that engineers do and this competition is a great way of encouraging them to think creatively to solve problems.
“It also helps challenge the children’s perceptions of what engineering is.
“The children have been so engaged with the competition and the level of creativity and ideas they have come up with is really impressive. We’re very proud of Grace that her entry was chosen as the winner – she put a lot of thought into the design and it helps address an everyday problem.”