Y12 student awarded the Arkwright Scholarship
Y12 student awarded the Arkwright Scholarship
We’re delighted to share the news that, after a gruelling selection process, Y12 student Emma Wattleworth has been awarded the Arkwright Scholarship, a prestigious scholarship which supports and encourages students to pursue an Engineering related degree or career. Here, Emma shares her journey with us…
The Arkwright Engineering Scholarship is a prestigious scholarship awarded to students in Year 11 through a rigorous selection process. The scholarship supports students through their A Levels or equivalent qualifications, encouraging them to pursue an Engineering related degree or career. The scholars also get access to exclusive events, receive a mentor who is a professional engineer and gain a financial award to spend on STEM related activities.
I applied to be an Arkwright Scholar last January, through a written application including details of an engineering project I completed and my inspiration to want to be an engineer. For my project, I chose to make a houseplant water sensor with a Raspberry Pi, using knowledge from my Computer Science GCSE to help me regulate watering the plants I own. I then took their 2 hour Aptitude Exam in February, where I was required to use my engineering knowledge to design technical solutions to problems.
Thankfully, I was successful in these two aspects of the application process and I was invited to move onto the interview stage in March. I had to prepare for the interview with a powerpoint presentation outlining my houseplant project, why I have an interest in engineering, and I also completed a second project where I made a model V8 engine using a kit I bought. The interview was hard yet I also enjoyed the process as it proved to me that engineering is what I want to do in the future, no matter if I got the scholarship or not.
After what felt like a long wait, in June I found out that I have been awarded the Arkwright Scholarship. I was and still am incredibly happy and proud about this achievement. I’m also very grateful to Mr Bowes who helped me with the application process! In September when I moved onto the Vandyke Sixth Form to study A Levels in Maths, Physics and French, I found out that my scholarship is sponsored by the Connolly Foundation. This is a charity local to us in Bedfordshire that aims to support younger and older people. This sponsorship means that Arkwright can continue to award scholarships and provides me with a valuable financial award.
In November, I was invited to attend an Arkwright Welcome and Networking Event, where I met other Scholars and was officially awarded the certificate for my scholarship. The event was held in the Discovery Museum in Newcastle, which wasn’t ideal location wise, but I managed to travel there by train after school the night before and stay in a hotel. At the event, we witnessed a talk from the CEO of the Smallpeice Trust (an engineering charity that runs Arkwright), a speech from a Cambridge engineering graduate about networking and we then watched a panel of Arkwright alumni give us advice on how to use the scholarship. We also worked with the 4 other scholars on our tables at the event to complete several engineering related challenges whilst each group got their photos taken.
Aside from the delicious food on offer at lunch, my favourite part of the day was the networking ‘bingo’. We were each given a bingo card with conditions like ‘has a pet’ and ‘has been to 5 countries’ – encouraging us to network, socialise and ultimately have fun! I had a really great time at the event and it felt like a full circle moment, as whilst I was applying for the scholarship I was inspired by previous scholar’s stories online.
In the future, I aspire to become a Mechanical Engineer, hopefully specialising in automotive engineering. My dream job would be to work in the F1 or motorsport industry, however I know these can be hard to get into so I’m open to other industries! I haven’t got my mentor or the financial award yet, but when I do I hope to learn a lot from my mentor and I will use the money to fund an engineering project.
Thanks for reading!