Two Ripon Grammar School students have been honoured at an online ceremony to celebrate scientists of the future.
Amy Goodwin and Scarlett Rooke were among 57 young people from schools across Yorkshire recognised as outstanding students at the University of York and Ogden Trust sixth annual Physicist of the Year awards.
Amy, who lives near Stokesley and plans to study medicine, says she enjoys the maths in physics.
Amy said:
Those parts just make more sense to me. When I was told about the award, I couldn’t really believe it but was very happy to receive it.
Scarlett, from outside York, who is aiming for a career in engineering.
Scarlett said:
I also enjoy the mathematical side of physics and looking at atomic structure as it gives an introduction to how scientists are trying new ways to generate energy, specifically the process of nuclear fusion present in the Sun, but not yet on the Earth.
They are among the large number of girls at RGS who are bucking the national trend, with more than 70 per cent excelling in maths and sciences at A-level and more than half of the school’s upper sixth female students going on to study STEM subjects at university last year.
Both Amy and Scarlett were nominated by their teachers, who selected pupils based on their hard work, contributions in class and progress over the past year.
Teacher, Miker Barker, commented on Scarlett
Teacher, Mike Barker:
The background she gave to two recent projects – calculating solar time and longitude using shadow sticks and observing stars to estimate magnitude – was A-level territory and showed a thorough amount of research had been carried out and understood.
The award-winning students, who received certificates and book tokens, attended an online celebration ceremony where Professor Kieran Gibson, head of the university’s physics department, read out the award winners and reason for nomination.
The evening also included a keynote lecture from Professor Tim Spiller on the exciting new field of revolutionary quantum technologies.
Scarlett said:
Initially I was really surprised I had been put forward for it considering the high level of work other people in my year achieve in physics. But I was really pleased all my hard work had been recognised by my teachers and paid off.
It allowed me to have time away from a computer screen, whilst taking results from the experiment.
The awards, open to Year 10 and 12 students, are supported by The Ogden Trust, which aims to promote the teaching and learning of physics.
