Zavier S (Yr 7) Wins Gold at Primary Engineer Macrobert Medal Awards

Zavier S (Yr 7) has won a gold award at the Primary Engineer Macrobert Medal Award Ceremony at the Institute of Mechanical Engineering in London on 7^th November.

School pupils, university students and engineers travelled to London for the highly prestigious Primary Engineer MacRobert Medal Award Ceremony to receive recognition for their work in creating a Prototype based on a school pupil’s engineering idea.

The Primary Engineer MacRobert Medal asks the question “If you were an engineer, what would you do?”. School pupils from the ages of 3-19 are asked to identify a problem in the world around them and come up with a creative solution to that problem. These ideas are then selected by Primary Engineer’s university and industry partners to turn into working Prototypes. The ‘ProtoTeams’ who build the prototypes have to do so alongside the pupil who came up with the idea, and it is both ProtoTeam and pupil who are given the award. 

Zavier’s idea was:

What do you do if your house plants keep dying, but you don’t know why? What if the plant could tell you what it needs? Through an LED screen displaying an emoji to communicate what is wrong with the plant, you can tell from across the room what needs to be done.  

The ProtoTeam at Thales selected this idea, and they are the first Industry Partner to create a prototype. Zavier said of this special honour:

“I was so elated when I won “If you were an engineer, what would you do?” My mind didn’t get it and it was only until I had the framed certificate and trophy then it hit me. I never thought my design would then be selected to actually be made into a prototype. To see my design brought to life was an amazing experience. When I thought it could not get any better, the prototype was given a gold award. I felt so proud and so fortunate to have experienced this”.

Dr Susan Scurlock MBE, Founder and Chief Executive of Primary Engineer, spoke at the award ceremony stating,

“The young people who entered the competition at the outset may not have known what engineering is, but now they know what engineering does – it helps people, saves the planet and makes the world a better place. The quality of the ideas and designs has completely blown us away this year, with is being an exceptionally tough job for the judges to award the winners from all out shortlisted prototypes, all of which have incredible potential to impact the real world. 

What these inspiring school pupils, university students and engineers have shown us above all else is that “If you were an engineer, what would you do?” is a question that has the potential to change more than we know!”

The award is supported by The MacRobert Trust and Weir Group, and Jon Stanton – Chief Executive Office at WEIR Group PLC – was part of the judging panel, as well as presenting the gold medals at the award ceremony:

“It’s a fantastic initiative that harnesses the imagination and creativity of school children and showcases what can happen when you engage children in engineering from a young age. Weir is a longstanding industry partner of Primary Engineer, and I was honoured to be part of the judging panel. We’re delighted to celebrate the winners who have demonstrated the very best in engineering and the potential to make an impact in the real world. Congratulations to you all.”

See a video summary of the evening and some of the inventions here.

The competition is running again this year, and is open to every school in the UK, you can learn more at www.leadersaward.com.

Well done Zavier! We are all so impressed and please keep us posted with your next engineering design. Many congratulations, a very exciting achievement!