YOUNG engineers from the North East shared their ideas and innovations with MPs after being invited to showcase their award-winning work at Westminster.
Students from Emmanuel College, in Gateshead, were among ten finalist teams to present their winning projects from the Big Bang national science and engineering competition at The Big Bang @ Parliament.
The event gave politicians, policy makers and the business community the chance to meet the students and experience the inspiration behind The Big Bang Fair, which takes place in Birmingham each spring.
The fair is the UK’s largest single celebration of science and engineering for young people and is aimed at inspiring the next generation by bringing the classroom to life.
Emmanuel students have an excellent record of success in the Big Bang competition and earlier this year won the junior, intermediate and senior age groups in the North East regional heats. The teams are currently fine-tuning their inventions in readiness for the national finals in March.
Andrew Miller MP, chair of the Science and Technology Committee and host of The Big Bang @ Parliament, said: “There are two parts to this event, the first is to give young people the opportunity to come to centre of decision-making and display their fantastic projects. The second is to get some of my Parliamentary colleagues to think more carefully about the importance of science and engineering in the world we’re trying to influence.”
Skills and Equalities Minister Nick Boles praised the innovation and ambition of the young competitors and told them: “Engineers are the people who change the world. I hope that this is just the start of your journey. You have chosen the greatest path in life, the one of making things happen. Of all the job opportunities of the future there none that are better paid or have better prospects than in engineering.”
Technology teacher Louise Glover: “This was an amazing opportunity for our students not only to meet and talk about their innovations to senior politicians but also to represent what young people are achieving in schools in the North East.”
