| Our guest blogger Lucy Rawlings is back to share her experience of attending the BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards after spotting a poster for the TeenTech Science Competition. Sunday the 23rd of October was unforgettable and surreal for so many reasons. It was an indescribable feeling to be standing on stage at Wembley Arena in front of 10,000 people, talking to Greg James who was presenting an award to us both, declaring that we were now allegedly Teen Heroes of 2016. |  On stage at the Teen Awards with Greg James. |
It all started with a poster in the biology corridor at school pointing out a competition called Teen Tech. The brief of this science competition was to create an innovative idea that would be useful in one of the 12 categories the website outlined. Our team chose the Transport category and decided to create a military medical device, called the mShuttle, which would be used to carry complex medical equipment in areas of combat, so that field medics would be at less risk of developing musculoskeletal injuries from their extremely heavy backpacks. We went on to win the People’s Choice Award at the Teen Tech finals, hosted in the Royal Society in London. From there, the journey never really ended.
| Clockwise from top left: outside the BBC; waiting to be interviewed live on Radio One; at Radio One with Benedict Cumberbatch (an absolutely charming man); backstage at Wembley Arena with the Vamps. | |
We were invited to Buckingham Palace to receive our award formally, which was incredible as it was great to catch up with the other winners and see how their projects had progressed, as well as being able to tell the Duke of York about our own aspirations. We were approached by the University of Cardiff wanting to know if we were interested in prototyping our mShuttle and having it tested by their research team. Maggie Philbin, the founder of TeenTech, then asked if we would like to speak at the annual ARM Forum in the Science Museum in London, an interactive discussion led by an esteemed panel of CEOs, Professors and Technology officers in front of an audience of education leaders, members of industry, and engineers. Following this discussion, we realised just how great of a task it is to try to get the younger generation involved in tech at an early age, as it became apparent that there was increasing concern about the diminishing number of children who ended up pursuing these subjects onto higher education, in particular the number of girls. After this realisation, as a team we became aware that, as young girls ourselves, we could help. So, we began talking to local schools about the opportunities that engineering brings and started to break down the stereotypes. We wrote blogs and lesson plans to connect ideas that STEM is not just about academic ability; it is largely about connecting people. It was shocking to see how many young people were oblivious to the exciting world of STEM. It gave us even more encouragement to reach out to them and spread the word. Between us we took STEM across Europe and over to South America, showing these young people what they could achieve if only they knew the possibilities.
At this point, we were very happy with our achievements and thought that our hard work had been justly recognised. However our expectations were exceeded as, one night we both came home to a phone call from Greg James himself telling us that we had won a BBC Radio 1 Teen Award! At this point we were completely dumbfounded and couldn't quite comprehend what had just happened, but two weeks from then- and after having filmed a professional short video of our story at a quaint film studio tucked away behind Borough Market - we were sitting in the BBC headquarters featuring on a live radio show with Radio 1 DJ, Dev. That Tuesday at Radio 1 was really exciting; firstly we met the other people who had been shortlisted for the awards, so we got hear about everyone’s achievements and ideas which were all genuinely incredible. Then we were introduced to a host of Radio 1 presenters including Nick Grimshaw, Greg James, Clara Amfo, Chris Stark and Scott Mills, as well as having the chance to discover the BBC and its news table, weather area and even sit on The One Show sofa! We agreed that the Tuesday was excellent but that Sunday, the day of the Teen Awards itself, was just mad.
| Clockwise from top left: on stage at Wembley Arena in front of 10,000 people; being interviewed, on stage with Greg James at the Teen Awards, outside Wembley Arena after winning the Teen Awards. | |
The 23rd of October holds so many amazing memories for both of us and we will always remember the awe-inspiring feeling of being handed a plaque by Greg James in front of a crowd of 10,000 at Wembley Arena declaring us 2016 Teen Heroes for the Make it Digital Category. The fact that we were cared for so excellently by the BBC production team, as well as having the chance to meet a whole host of celebrities and remarkable young people, made the experience even more brilliant. The award was given to us because of our dedication to inspiring young people to take up tech and we have no intention of slowing that down, in fact the award has brought wider awareness to this cause and has ignited yet more energy in us to keep things moving.
Honestly, we never thought that starting a science competition, that was in fact a new venture for our school, would lead the world of opportunities it has. This just goes to show you that with an open mind, hard work and enthusiasm, getting to where you want to be is possible for anyone, even for some year 10 girls who knew nothing about engineering.
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