Students across the UK tackle sustainable future challenge as part of competition supported by Air Products
Over 1,000 students from across the country showcased innovative solutions at London’s Barbican Centre this month for the grand finals of The National Careers Challenge, where students pitched their ideas to panels of industry judges. The event saw the youngest cohort, Year 7 students, aged 11-12, tackle a clean energy challenge set sponsored by Air Products, a world-leading industrial gases company.
Air Products’ brief for the Year 7 pupils was focused on how gases can be used to reduce carbon emissions in towns and enable sustainable living. It also highlighted that achieving net zero affects every part of daily life – from the infrastructure we rely on, to the products we use, our homes, heating, and travel. The challenge aimed to provide the students with a valuable opportunity to apply science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills to practical, real-world scenarios focused on achieving positive sustainability outcomes. The team from Mossbourne Community Academy took home the winning trophy on the strength of their project Loch Haven.
Kay Benjamin Richardson, the student captain of the Mossbourne Community Academy team said, “The experience was new, challenging and of course it was fun, being different to our routine lessons. It took some trial and error and debate to work out how best to design our town and make sure our ideas were logical – it was good to be able to use our Science and Geography knowledge to solve real-world problems. All the other teams did very well too, but my team and I were thrilled to represent Mossbourne at the finals – and win!”
Abbie Crunkhorn, higher education and careers manager at Mossbourne added, “It is always incredible to see the creativity and problem-solving skills of the students kick in when presented with a challenge. But more than that, they are also able to develop soft skills that they will need in the workplace such as listening, speaking, leadership and teamwork. Such challenges go to show that businesses can absolutely get involved at this level to help students understand what working with STEM projects looks like.”
The annual challenge underpins one of the most important needs to support the UK’s growth and energy transition – building the skills pipeline for the future. Community and STEM Ambassador at Air Products, Lynn Willacy said, “The recently launched Industrial Strategy marks skills development as crucial to driving the UK’s economic growth. At Air Products, we firmly believe in the benefits of early engagement, enabling young students to discover the huge potential of STEM subjects. Industrial gases have a huge range of applications – whether it’s hydrogen to lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in transport, or oxygen to lower the amount of energy needed to heat furnaces.”
The National Careers Challenge was established in 2013 by the Inspirational Learning Group to connect classrooms with workplaces and businesses. This year’s edition saw record participation with students developing practical skills while exploring diverse career paths for the future.
To find out more about Air Products, please visit: https://www.airproducts.co.uk/
