Well done to Ms Kelleher’s and Ms Healy’s Rang IV on winning both top prize AND highly commended out of over 250 schools’ entries in the engineering competition! Fantastic future engineers in the making!

Cobh primary school students awarded top engineering honour

• Fourth class pupils at Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh (Cobh, Cork) awarded Young Engineers Award by Engineering Superhero Ambassador Orla Murphy
• Over 250 projects entered by student groups nationwide in inaugural year of competition
• Presentation of award comes as part of Engineers Week 2019, running until 8 March

Fourth class pupils at Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh have been awarded the Engineers Ireland STEPS Young Engineers Award by Engineering Superhero Ambassador Orla Murphy at a school presentation in Cobh today.

The Engineers Ireland STEPS Young Engineers Award encourages third- and fourth-class pupils and their teachers to explore the world of engineering by developing an engineering project that would help to improve their local community.

Over 250 projects were entered into the inaugural year of the Young Engineers Award competition, with two projects from Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh awarded the top prize in the country and a highly commended placement thanks to their innovative project ideas. Winning student team ‘The Carrots’, made up of Francesca, Sam, Kayla, Fantine, Tara and Kacper, came up with an ingenious idea to produce a small, environmentally friendly chip that uses solar energy to charge a mobile phone. Fellow classmates, Laura, Kate, Cian, Katelyn, Fahad and Oliver, members of ‘The Enthusiastic Engineers’ were also highly commended for their innovative design – a steering wheel with sensors for skin to detect high alcohol levels which would automatically stop a car from starting.

Commenting at the school presentation today, Ms. Sinéad Flannery, Principal of Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh, said: “At Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh we place a profound importance on providing our students with relevant opportunities to engage with STEM activities in their formative years and to encourage our students to think scientifically though exploration and discovery.

“Today’s STEPS Young Engineers Award presentation to Ms. Kelleher’s and Ms. Healy’s fourth-class students is a testament to the dedication of our teachers in fostering STEM engagement in the classroom and providing our students with the opportunity to innovate, create and explore together to engineer real world solutions for their local community and society”.

Caroline Spillane, Director General of Engineers Ireland added: “Many of the core engineering traits and behaviours – curiosity, exploration, creativity, problem-solving and collaboration – overlap with the principles of early childhood education and I would like to congratulate all of the teachers who encouraged their students to submit over 250 projects into the inaugural Young Engineers Award competition this year.”

Orla Murphy, Engineering Superhero Ambassador for Engineers Week 2019, joined in congratulating the students at on their achievements: “I’m delighted to be at Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh today to present the STEPS Young Engineers Award. Having heard the project presentations from the winning teams this morning, I was so inspired by the students’ creativity and innovative project ideas.  A career in engineering is so diverse and rewarding and it is my hope that each of the students will continue to explore the limitless opportunities a career in the engineering sector can offer.”

Engineers Week, now in its 13^th year, is taking place in engineering organisations, businesses, local authorities, third level institutions, libraries and schools nationwide. The week-long festival is coordinated on a national basis by Engineers Ireland’s STEPS programme – funded as a strategic partner of Science Foundation Ireland’s Discover Programme Call – and supported by industry leaders Arup, Intel, ESB and TII.

To find out more about the hundreds of events taking place in communities nationwide, visit: www.engineersweek.ie