EESW Student of The Year Winners 2022
On Thursday 1st December, EESW STEM Cymru attended the annual Welsh Automotive Forum Networking Dinner at the Vale Hotel where the winner of the Student of the Year 2022 was announced.
Over 300 Year 12 students who participated in the scheme last year were invited to submit a proposal to become the EESW Student of the Year, with 11 being shortlisted for an interview in November. The calibre of the interviewed students was so high that the judges decided to choose two runners-up and one overall winner.
This year’s winner of the £800 prize, Elena Ruddy from Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr worked with Swansea University’s Aerospace Engineering department on a project involving micro propulsion systems for a Cube satellite based on general type of “colloidal thrusters”. Elena and the team from Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr really impressed the judges at the Awards & Presentation Day at the Cardiff City Stadium on 4th May 2022 and won the award for the Best Overall Written Report Sponsored by WJEC for their project and were nominated for the award for the Most Effective Presentation of the Chosen Solution sponsored by Industry Wales.
Elena’s teacher, Alun Rennolf, commented: “I have had the pleasure of teaching Elena for the past three and a half years, and the word that best describes her as a student is superlative. Her work, in every field she chooses to study, is of the highest quality. She thrived in the setting of the EESW Sixth Form project, and her natural curiosity and drive to learn was an essential contributor to the success of the project. The success of the written report was largely down to her fantastic ability to maintain both attention to detail, and an appreciation of the overarching narrative and drive of the report, an ability which belies her age. She shows a level of maturity and responsibility for her studies which will stand her in good stead for her career at university and beyond, with her succeeding to balance the workload of the EESW project write-up with studying 6 subjects at AS Level and achieving the highest UMS possible in those subjects.”
Elena has decided to continue her education in STEM and has applied to study Natural Sciences at Cambridge, an MSci in Chemistry at Bristol University, and Chemistry at Swansea University. Her ambition is to progress to doctoral research and a career in STEM either in industry, or academic research. She is interested in exploring Science policymaking, and the influence of science on political decisions in her future career.
The worthy runners up were John Griffiths from Ysgol Bro Preseli who worked with Aberystwyth University and Yu Wong (Milly) from Cardiff Sixth Form College who worked with Network Rail and each will receive £400 towards their future studies. John hopes to study Natural Science at the University of Cambridge, where he would concentrate on Physics, Earth Science, and Material Science. Milly has applied to study both mechanical and aerospace engineering undergraduate courses at universities. After the degree, she hopes to continue doing research in the field of engineering in targeting global issues such as climate change.
Rebecca Davies, EESW CEO said “The students were able to demonstrate that they are not only aware of the issues we are facing, but are extremely keen and motivated in finding innovative solutions to problems that, at present, we don’t even know exist.”
Thank you to Industry Wales for sponsoring the EESW Student of the Year Award 2022, we are grateful for your continued support. Also thanks to the Welsh Automotive Forum for allowing us to present the awards at such a prestigious event and BPU Accountants for hosting a table at the dinner to invite the parents and teachers of our students to share in our celebrations.
