Brock STEM Awards celebrates students with ‘talents to help improve the way we live’

High-achieving Brockenhurst College students studying Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics – STEM subjects – were praised and congratulated at the College’s STEM Awards recently.

Sponsored by Hythe based GEO Specialty Chemicals and Lymington based software innovators Bridgeworks, the glittering twilight event was hosted in the main hall by Assistant Principal Steve Jenkin.

In total, 14 Gold award winners and 13 Silver award winners from across the College’s STEM learning provision were presented with their awards by GEO and Bridgeworks representatives.

Each winner received a trophy, a certificate, a citation from their nominating teacher and a cheque from the sponsors.

Gold award winners walked away with £100, while Silver award winners took home £50.

The event opened with keynote speaker Dr Roya Haratian, who is Senior Lecturer in Electronic Science and Engineering at Bournemouth University.

Dr Haratian gave an insight into her research into on-body sensing systems and the processing of bio-signals with application in human-machine interaction.

Eloise Curzon from Brockenhurst, who won Gold in Chemistry and Silver in Biology, said: “This event means a lot to winners like me – we all really appreciate the encouragement.”

Eloise Curzon, Katherine Bennett

The former Priestlands pupil added: “I am interested in going into a medical profession, so it was really interesting and inspiring to hear about the research conducted by Dr Roya Haratian.”

Awards host Steve Jenkin said afterwards: “Tonight was a special night for these incredibly able young people who all have the talents to someday make their mark and help improve the way we live.

“My thanks go to GEO Specialty Chemicals and Bridgeworks for caring so much about the next generation of STEM professionals and making this event such a pleasure for everyone.”

Bridgeworks CEO David Trossell said: “We are proud to support the Brockenhurst STEM Awards and to recognise student talent in these fields.

“We have developed our own STEM apprenticeship scheme and look to employ leavers from STEM programmes, such as those provided by Brockenhurst College, when hiring developers, engineers and technologists.”

Meanwhile, Katherine Bennett from GEO Specialty Chemicals said: “As a company we recognise the importance of STEM, it being the backbone of our business, and it is fantastic to see the success of so many in this field.

“Having worked in the chemical industry for over 20 years, it is encouraging to know that, whatever the future holds, there are such great candidates ready to take on the challenges of sustainability and low carbon manufacturing.”

The full list of winners is:

Bridgeworks winners:

• Engineering Level 3 (Gold): Tom Mansbridge
• Engineering Level 3 (Silver): Khuong Nguyen
• Electronics A Level (Gold): Benoit Harwood
• Electronics A Level (Silver): William Hannah
• Product Design A Level (Gold): Ellie Thomas
• Product Design A Level( Silver): Lloyd Richardson
• IT Level 3 (Gold): Connor McCarthy
• IT Level 3 (Silver): Katie Clark
• Computer Science A Level (Gold): Harvey Roberts
• Computer Science A Level (Silver): Oliver Soeser
• IT Level 3 A Level Equivalent (Gold): Justin Edgar-Bee

GEO Specialty Chemicals winners:

• Biology A Level (Gold): Archie Leppard
• Biology A Level (Silver): Eloise Curzon
• Chemistry A Level (Gold): Eloise Curzon
• Chemistry A Level (Silver): Ibraheem Ghafoor
• Physics A Level (Gold): Steven Nicol
• Physics A Level (Silver): Harvey Roberts
• Environmental Science A Level (Gold): Kiera McClary
• Environmental Science A Level (Silver): Poppy Starkey
• Geology A Level (Gold): Isaac Kearney
• Geology Science A Level (Silver): Kiera McClary
• Applied Science Level 3 (Gold): Roxanne Opoku
• Applied Science Level 3 (Silver): Samuel-Jake Stapley
• Maths A Level (Gold): Oliver Soeser
• Maths A Level (Silver): Jessica Lansdowne
• Further Maths A Level (Gold): Olivia Stubbs
• Further Maths A Level (Silver): Chloe Pocock