Climate award for Borrisoleigh students
Three students from Borrisoleigh, County Tipperary have won the prestigious EirGrid Cleaner Climate Award following the impressive scientific insights presented at the SciFest@College STEM fair in TUS, Thurles recently.
Hundreds of students from across Tipperary and surrounding counties came together with their second-level student peers and teachers to participate in the STEM competition showcasing projects on a range of topics from mental health and sport science to renewable energy.
St Joseph’s College students George Popplewell, Donnacha Browne and Aidan O'Gorman impressed judges at the regional SciFest STEM fair with their project - ‘How we can make wind turbines more eco-friendly’. This involved the design a small-scale prototype which highlighted how different materials could make more sustainable and eco-friendly wind turbine blades.
Their project was selected from over 100 projects exhibited at the Thurles campus event.
SciFest@College is a programme of STEM fairs for second-level students, taking place in 16 regional colleges across Ireland. Now in its 19th year, the SciFest programme is open to second-level students, with the aim of promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) education and providing a platform for students to present and display their scientific insights.
EirGrid, the operator and developer of Ireland’s electricity grid, partnered with SciFest to develop the EirGrid Cleaner Climate award which celebrates students who research and design projects to address climate and energy related challenges.
Congratulating the winners on their success Claire Wallace, Interim Head of Strategy and Sustainability with EirGrid, said: “A big congratulations to George, Donnacha and Aidan on their award. At EirGrid we are passionate about giving young people the opportunity to showcase their ambitious and solution-driven ideas to addressing climate change.
“Through our partnership with SciFest, EirGrid are proud to support the promotion of STEM subjects as the next generation is inspired to seek solutions to climate change and the energy transition.”
George, Donnacha and Aidan will now go on to compete in the SciFest National Final later this year.