School teams from Dundee, Perth and Angus attended The University of Dundee on Tuesday 24th January to compete in the Go4SET Dundee Celebration and Assessment Day (CAD). The judges decided Harris Academy were the winners of the Best Overall Project Award for their outstanding work on the use of biomass as a source of renewable energy and were presented with a trophy and a cheque for £250 by Joe Fitzpatrick MSP. The team will now go forward to the Go4SET Scottish Final which will be held in the Scottish Parliament in May
The Go4SET biomass project began at the launch event in September 2011 and the teams of six 12 to 14 year olds (S2) continued to work with their teacher and mentors from industry on the challenging 10-week project. They were tasked to research a biomass fuelled renewable electricity and heat plant for their school and provide a written report on their findings, produce a model and display these at the celebration event.
At the event the students demonstrated their individual projects and models to a group of assessors and discussed their projects with guests attending the event. The other award winners at the event were Montrose Academy who won the Innovation Award with a cheque for £100 and Braeview Academy who won the Students Choice Award.
Harris Academy were supported by Axeon during the project and Lawrence Berns, CEO of Axeon, commented “I’m delighted that the students we mentored have done so well. “Clearly they have gained useful insights and experience and their enthusiasm for technology bodes well for the future of engineering. We congratulate them and wish them well for the Scottish finals.”
Joe Fitzpatrick MSP presented the awards at the event and commented “It was a pleasure to meet the students today and to learn of their work during their projects. The tremendous enthusiasm of young people for renewable energy technology and their awareness of the environment is hugely encouraging. “The Scottish Government has set world-leading climate change targets and it is the enthusiasm of young Scots which will help ensure these are achieved.
Duncan McSporran, EDT Director for Scotland commented “This dynamic and innovative curriculum based programme has proved to significantly change the perception of young people on careers and opportunities within science and engineering industries.”
