O'Dowd commends young scientists on their awards

Education Minister John O'Dowd, has congratulated the young scientists from local schools who were recognised at the BT Young Scientist & Technology exhibition in Dublin.
~ Sunday, 15 January 2012

St Mary's College, Derry landed the accolade of best school from the north of Ireland, an award sponsored by MATRIX. The school had entered seven projects, the highest ever from a northern school.

Ballyclare High, meanwhile, landed the University of Ulster Special Award for their project; an investigation into finding an alternative to petroleum based inks to prevent food contamination from packaging, by students Meg McWhirter and Rebekah McNeill.

Congratulating the students who took part, Mr O'Dowd said: "St Mary's College and Ballyclare High can be justifiably proud of their achievements. The exhibition featured 550 projects this year - illustrating the success of the competition and, more importantly, the level of interest in STEM subjects in schools across Ireland.

"During my visit to the event I was struck by the passion of the students taking part. If we are serious about creating the world-class economy our Programme for Government aims for we must provide young people with the skills and qualifications necessary to enable us to compete on a global scale. I commend the work of teachers in schools across the north who are bringing STEM subjects to life for their pupils and who are enabling us to work towards that vision.

"Above all, the young people themselves deserve credit for the standard of work on display and I was encouraged to note that 17 local schools and one Further Education college entered projects.

"I would also like to congratulate Eric Doyle and Mark Kelly from Synge Street CBS in Dublin who walked away with the overall prize for their project; 'Simulation accuracy in the gravitational many-body problem'.

"The experience of competing in such a prestigious event will have been of benefit to all who took part and I wish these talented young people well as they continue their studies and enter the world of work."

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