The Arkwright Engineering scholarship is an award given to students aged 16 who have an interest in engineering and is designed to inspire and nurture students, helping them develop into the engineers of the future. The award is given to 400 students per year who are given £600 and a mentor (through a sponsor) alongside the school receiving £400 to develop engineering education. Year 12 Nina applied for the Scholarship, and below is the story of her success.

“I applied for the Scholarship in early 2020, when I was in Year 10 at my previous School. At first, I wasn’t sure whether to go through with the application, but a push from my old DT teacher gave me the courage to submit the application. After an interview and a long awaited result, I found I out I had received the Scholarship and was matched with Avara Foods, who would be my sponsor for the next two years. Alongside the £600 funding, I was assigned a mentor from Avara, who support has already been very beneficial by helping me to navigate the different avenues of engineering available that match with my interests. The access to work, the opportunities to shadow and the conversations with industry professionals have also helped me to identify what type of career I want to go into.

In addition to the mentoring system, Arkwright offers a range of competitions, webinars and connect days where small groups of scholars can meet at specialist companies and find out about the different engineers just within that company and the different ways engineers can impact the world we live in. I recently went on a connect day with DS Smith packaging company, an industry leader of sustainable packaging solutions, where I took factory tours, did hands on exercises and listened to examples of different people’s career progressions within engineering. The visit introduced me to design engineering and gave me an insight into the level of detail that goes into getting a product to sell on a supermarket shelf!

Without trying to sound highly predictable, I would genuinely recommend the Arkwright Scholarship to everyone, even if you only have the slightest interest in engineering. As someone who really had no idea what career they wanted, having the access to mentors, work experience and industry professionals has really helped me to focus in on a career that excites me and has given me opportunities that I would not have had access to without it.”

Nina C
Year 12