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The British School of Brussels (BSB) is proud to share the successes of our students. Over the summer, Maria Stagno Navarra (now in Year 12) was awarded one of the most prestigious engineering scholarships offered in the UK, the Arkwright Scholarship. This scholarship aims to identify, inspire and nurture future leaders in engineering and related areas of design. It supports A Level students, encouraging them to pursue an education in engineering.
In 2013, the scholarship fund received 1,300 applicants. BSB’s Head of Design & Technology, Simon Jones, nominated Maria after she showed outstanding enthusiasm and promise in her coursework. “Maria’s design for a iPhone docking station was very ambitious. She proposed an idea for a transparent unit which would show all the electronic components, including circuit board and speaker units. Attention to detail in this sort of design has to be very precise and accurately produced. Maria used computeraided design software and the laser cutter to help prepare the parts, which were then very carefully assembled. The docking station integrated an area which allowed art work to be displayed, allowing customisation by the user.”
Maria was awarded the scholarship and matched with her sponsor, Glasgow University, at the end of the summer. She and the other scholars will receive their awards and meet their mentors at ceremonies in London and Glasgow on 24 October.
Maria’s goal is to join a top-level university and pursue a career in biomedical engineering, which she says she enjoys “because it combines my interest for the sciences and design and technology”.
Her mother Christine Stagno Navarro said, “Maria loves maths, sciences, design and building aspects, and finds tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and stem cells fascinating. Maria believes that biomedical engineering enables her to continue to enjoy these subjects whilst helping to contribute to the discoveries in this field. She believes that this is the future of medicine and would love to be part of it.”
Winning the scholarship also makes Maria a role model for other young women. Maria hopes that her achievement will help encourage girls to experience engineering, which is typically seen as a male domain. When asked why she thought that was, Maria said, “Before, engineering used to be more for men. People didn’t think of engineering as an area for girls, so girls don’t get information on the subject and they don’t get to try it.”
The last BSB student to win the Arkwright Scholarship was Daniel Lochtman, in 2006. Since then, new activities have rejuvenated the school’s science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) programme to make it even stronger. One of its new goals was to achieve the Arkwright Scholarship.
“We’ve been running a STEM course for a few years, and Maria’s accomplishment shows that we are going in the right direction,” said Simon Jones. Reaching this goal allows DT and Science to build on its success. Furthermore, the financial award from the Arkwright Scholarship will go towards the school’s DT competitions and challenges that will “enhance the profile of engineering” for both boys and girls,” he said.
About The British School of Brussels
The British School of Brussels (BSB), founded in 1969 in Brussels and established in 1970 in Tervuren, is an all-through international school for children aged one to 18 years. There are over 1,300 students on roll, representing approximately 70 nationalities. The School offers a British Curriculum up to age 16 years, (I)GCSE followed by the choice of GCE A Levels, the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma and BTEC Post-16.
Extensive provision for learning support and English as an Additional Language (EAL) is available, as well as a wide range of extra-curricular activities. There is also a French-English bilingual programme across eight Year Groups (ages 4-13 years). School accreditations include the IB World School, COBIS (Council of British International Schools), IAPS (Independent Association of Prep Schools) and the Principal is a member of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC). BSB recently received an outstanding report from the Council of International Schools (CIS). For more information, please visit www.britishschool.be.
Contributed by The British School of Brussels