Arkwright Scholarship

T

wo Wallace Hall Academy pupils have each been awarded a prestigious scholarship following a nation-wide search for pupils with outstanding aptitude in engineering.

Brothers John and Luke McKay applied to the Arkwright Foundation, which exists to promote study in engineering and develop pupils with the potential to be industry leaders, by supporting them through their final two years at school. The Foundation is sponsored by a wide range of Universities, professional institutions and companies and organisations working in the field of engineering.

Only pupils pre-selected by their school can apply and the process involved a detailed application, a two-hour aptitude exam, and a formal interview at Heriot-Watt University. The boys also had to give a presentation on an engineering project they had been involved in, and were able to draw on their experience as part of Wallace Hall’s prizewinning Glic robotics team.

This week John and Luke learned that they had each – individually – been chosen as Arkwright Scholars. For this they will get a financial award and, more importantly, hands-on work experience, project support and personal mentoring to help them as they hope to pursue careers in Engineering.

This is a tremendous achievement as there are only around 400 Arkwright Scholarships awarded each year for the whole of Britain.

Mr Corrigan, Principal Teacher of Design & Technology at Wallace Hall Academy added “The boys have proven time and time again that they have the calibre to enjoy successful careers as engineers, and we were keen to nominate them for these prestigious scholarships. The selection process is rigorous but they had a huge degree of experience, presenting their work at the Houses of Parliament last year and winning prizes in robotics across the UK and in America. We were thrilled to receive news of their success and hope this will give them a valuable insight into their future careers.”