Product Design students win trophies
Posted on Monday 19 July 2010
Ambitious projects rewarded with prizes in national competitions
Students studying A level Product Design at Farnborough Sixth Form College have recently swept the board in a number of Science & Engineering related competitions.
Natasha Newman, 17 of Farnham, Isobel Priest, 17, of Farnborough, Will Tolfree, 17 of Fleet and David Montgomery, 16, of Basingstoke took part in the Sustainability Challenge run by Surrey County Council. Their design of an efficient method of cooling air using a Direct Cooler won first prize at the SATRO Science & Engineering Festival at Brooklands Museum last week. They also entered the design in the national BOC Inspiring Gases Challenge, winning the Runner-up trophy. A week later the team were awarded Best Independent Project in the National Science & Engineering Competition (South East) held at Reading University.
Natasha Newman said “I really enjoyed just having the opportunity to apply my knowledge from a number of subjects to a practical application but winning these prizes was the icing on the cake!”
Isobel Priest, whose subjects include Chemistry, said, “I was delighted to work with the rest of the team who study Product Design. I believe it was our combined knowledge and approach that made this so successful”.
Nick Tupper teaches Product Design at the College and he oversaw the project. He said “The team was fantastic. The students used their initiative and creativity throughout the development of the project and deserve the many accolades they have received.”
Tom Dowrick, 18, of Farnborough was another prize winner. He won The Brooklands Challenge Prize at the Festival of Science & Engineering for his interactive exhibit which is designed to demonstrate magnetism to primary school children.
Tom said “I was really pleased to see how much children at the exhibition enjoyed playing with my exhibit. The bright colours and ‘clacking’ noise it makes in operation were real winners and you could see on the faces of the children how much they enjoyed learning about science.”
The approach to Product Design at the College is focused on applications to the real world with project work used to engage students’ creativity and imagination. Principal Dr John Guy said, “I am really proud of the achievements of these students in a wide range of problem-solving applications which demonstrate the importance of design in our rapidly changing world.”
