We are excited to announce that Isla P (S5) passed the Arkwright Trust’s UK-wide selection process to be chosen as an Arkwright Engineering Scholar for 2020!
The Arkwright Engineering Scholarship is an engineering award programme where promising young engineering students, from across the UK, are put through a rigorous selection process to win a sponsorship from a professional organisation. The winners are given access to invaluable support such as mentoring and hands-on work experience.
This year saw only 55 girls from the whole of Scotland make it to the original interview stage, four of which were from The Mary Erskine School. Through a process of online applications and aptitude tests, Arkwright then awarded 16 Scottish pupils scholarships and Isla was deservedly selected as one of them.
Over the years there have been numerous scholars from The Mary Erskine School and Stewart’s Melville College who have won the Arkwright scholarship and who have gone on to benefit greatly from this scheme. Mary Erskine students have been entering this scholarship programme for over 10 years. Cara R for example, who is one of our two 2019 winners, will continue to benefit from sponsorship and mentoring by international engineering firm, Buro Happold, for the next two years, while she applies to study Product Design Engineering at university in September. At Stewart’s Melville College, 21 boys have won the award since the first application was made in 2003. This year, four boys are in the process of applying and are currently working in their own time on their practical projects which forms a major part of the application.
Head of MES Product Design, Mr Bowen, believes that “The Arkwright Engineering Scholarship offers incredible career enhancing opportunities to our ‘brightest and best’ students. We encourage any pupils studying any combination of STEM GCSEs, Scottish National 5s or equivalent and who have a genuine interest in a future career in Design, Engineering, or Computing to apply because of the experience it offers and the doors it can open.”
Since the introduction of this curricular subject way back in 1991, the massive fundraising that took place to construct the Technology Centres at Mary Erskine and Stewart’s Melville quickly began to pay dividends and resulted in a huge interest in this subject area within our Schools. Both Centres were built so that every pupil could experience the thrill of creation in a problem-solving ethos. ESMS students, with girls in particular, regularly began to enter the creative industry sector. As a result of its popularity and success, it continues to be one of the most popular destination areas by our Sixth Form students.
We would like to congratulate Isla for this fantastic achievement. She should feel proud that her Design Engineering and leadership potential has been recognised at this early stage. We look forward to seeing what opportunities arise for her from this success.
