Students deliver at Young Scientist expo
BRIGHT young students from local schools took part in this year’s BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, which saw Dublin schools take home 60 prizes.
As reported previously in The Echo, local schools submitted 22 entries for the 58th competition this year, which was held virtually on January 12-14 for a second year in a row due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.
Students from 11 local schools were shortlisted from a total of 219 schools from 29 countries for the exhibition, with many projects focusing on Covid-19 and the technology surrounding pandemic and the issues it has brought with it.
The top prize on the day was taken home by 3rd year Synge Street students Aditya Joshi, aged 15 and Aditya Kumar, aged 16 for their project ‘A New Method of Solving the Bernoulli Quadrisection Problem’. The students presented their project in the Intermediate section in the Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences category.
Despite not taking home any of the main awards on the day, students from schools in Tallaght, Lucan, Knocklyon and Terenure represented their schools and did them proud with their projects and hard work.
One student, Amy Carruth from Kingswood Community College in Tallaght won a display award for her submission ‘Fibronot Pro’ – a new fibromyalgia detection system.
Sharon Jayaseelan,Juan Azad, Caoimhe Daffy and Agnes Martin from St Joseph’s
A submission from St Joseph’s Community College titled ‘Recycle the Mask, Save Our Environment’ by student Agnes Martin was highly commended by the judges in the technology sector.
Lucan Community College’s project – ‘How the Pandemic has Positively Affected the Air Quality in Lucan and What We can Do to Sustain these Levels’ by students Jessica Power, Clodagh McDonnell and Keelah Sisk was also highly commended by the judges on the day.
Speaking to students at the BTYSTE awards ceremony, Minister for Education Norma Foley TD said: “It is both encouraging and heartening to witness the level of creativity and innovation of this year’s entrants as demonstrated through their meticulously researched and ingenious projects.
“Each one of you is a credit to yourself, your family, your school and you should be proud of your accomplishments. The calibre of entries is a testament to the tenacity and talent of the students behind them, and it is this constant high standard that makes BT Young Scientist one of the longest running, and most successful STEM events in Europe.”
Other submissions that were shortlisted included Tallaght Community School’s project which was aimed at solving the current housing crisis, which was entered in the social and behavioural sciences category.
Michael Griffin, computer science teacher at Kishoge Community College with students Subhan Tariq, Shawaiz Atif, Joshua Kannappilly and Farsaad Kamran
St Colmcille’s Community School in Knocklyon entered the same category with its project aiming to examine whether or not electric cars are the future, while Our Lady’s School in Terenure made two entries in the chemical, physical and mathematical sciences category. Loreto High School had a total of four entries, including a project investigating leaf stomata to find out how much air pollution there is in different districts across Dublin.
In Lucan, Coláiste Cois Life studied what attracts young people to become a vegetarian, and Coláiste Phádraig submitted a project about safe school masks in the technology category. St Kevin’s Community College in Fonthill also highlighted the impact of Covid-19, conducting a study on if Covid-19 increased anxiety in students.
Kishogue Community School’s project was the invention of augmented reality glasses for the visually impaired as well as a “smart” cricket training bat.
Clodagh McDonnell, Jessica Power and Keelah Sisk from Lucan Community College participated in this year’s competition
Speaking at the exhibition, Shay Walsh, Managing Director, BT Ireland commented: “Congratulations to students across the island of Ireland and to all of our winners who took part in the Exhibition this week and thank you for brightening up a cold January, particularly with Covid-19 continuing to cast a very long shadow.
“The students at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition did a remarkable job this week and have shown huge diversity of thought in actively seeking out solutions to some of the biggest challenges that humanity faces.
“I want to thank the teachers, parents, guardians, and everyone who has supported the students that entered. I would also like to thank our esteemed judges, our sponsors and partners and of course, our own fantastic BT team of organisers, who, collectively, make this Exhibition possible every year.”
