St Mary’s College students’ success in Science & Engineering competitions

HAPPY HOLLIE!. . . . . .St. Maryâ€TMs College Year 14 student Hollie Harkin didnâ€TMt let Covid get in her way this year as she represented the school, the city and Northern Ireland in no less than four major science competitions achieving success in them all! Congratulating her on Thursday after her latest achievement are Mr. Brendan McGinn, Acting Principal and Mrs. Anne Blanking, Science Teacher. Hollie picked up the Excellence in STEM Award from the Scifest 2020 National Final. Already this year, she took third place in the Senior Individual Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences category at the BT Young Sciencist of the Year awards held in Dublin in January; and followed this with a runners-up award in the National Science and Engineering Big Bang competition Intermediate Age Group later in the year; and achieved the top award in Chemistry at the Northwest Scifest competition which qualified her for the National Scifest final where she again achieved success this week. (Photos: jim McCafferty Photogr

Hollie was congratulated on her achievement at the school by Mr. Brendan McGinn, Acting Principal and Mrs. Anne Blanking, Science Teacher.

Hollie picked up the Excellence in STEM Award from the Scifest 2020 National Final.

Already this year, she took third place in the Senior Individual Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences category at the BT Young Scientist of the Year awards held in Dublin in January; and followed this with a runners-up award in the National Science and Engineering Big Bang competition Intermediate Age Group later in the year. She also achieved the top award in Chemistry at the Northwest Scifest competition which qualified her for the National Scifest final where last week she won the Excellence award.

There were more celebrations at the school after St. Mary’s College Year 9 student Rebecca Lewis picked up first place in Northern Ireland in a recent UK-wide ‘If You Were an Engineer – What Would You Do’ competition.

Fellow St Mary’s pupil, Year 11 student Heidi McLaughlin meanwhile also took a highly commended award.

The two students were among 240 girls from the Northland Road college who entered the competition, independently judged by engineering and educational professionals. In all, 30,000 pupils in the UK took part.

Each student received a medal and a certificate of commendation to celebrate their hard work and innovation.

Acting Principal, Mr. Brendan McGinn said he was delighted with the success of the two girls and praised all the students who took part.

‘Today we are celebrating two very talented students, Rebecca and Heidi. It’s great credit to the school in knowing over 240 girls participated in what was such a prestigious competition. Engineering plays such an important part in the school curriculum and STEM focus at St. Mary’s and we were thrilled to see the girls hard work, determination and innovation rewarded,” he said.