Following a competitive selection process, two Oundle pupils have been awarded prestigious Arkwright Engineering Scholarships and will attend presentation ceremonies in London and Edinburgh later this month.
Sophie (Sr) and Alexander’s (F) interviews and applications demonstrated their engineering knowledge and life skills, including leadership and creative thinking. The scholarships provide financial support, personal mentoring, hands-on industry experience and exclusive events to support their journey into engineering.
Alexander’s award is sponsored by the Reece Foundation, which supports education relating to engineering, mathematics and physics. He looks forward to making industry contacts via the Foundation and meeting other scholars on co-operation days. He is currently restoring a vintage theatre light which he plans to present to the Stahl Theatre. Future plans include developing his interests in chemical engineering.
Sophie’s award is sponsored by the Sir Williams Lyons Charitable Trust, which has a close association with Jaguar Land Rover. She is currently restoring a 1998 Subaru Impreza and building an electric racing car with the Greenpower car team. She is also building a FPV drone, which when paired with special goggles will allow her to monitor what the drone sees as it flies. She is interested in electronic engineering and computer science, and wants to be involved with creating products to help those most in need, such as search and rescue, emergency or disaster response or crop and landscape monitoring, traffic evaluation or environmental protection.
All successful Arkwright Scholars are awarded a nationally recognised scholarship certification to enhance their university and apprenticeship applications, alongside a £600 financial bonus to support their studies.