Local students sweep boards with remarkable successes at BT Young Scientists

Local students took first prize in a remarkable five categories at the BT Young Scientist & Technology exhibition this evening.

Athlone Community College and Moate Community School each had two first placed category awards.

Athlone Community College student Srinidhi Karthik was the winner of the Intermediate individual section of the Chemical, Physical and Mathematical category with the project 'Lost, Found, and Optimised: A novel, revised outlook on Bellman’s Lost-in-a-Forest Problem'.

Also from Athlone Community College Thenuka Handurukande was the winner of the junior individual category in the Technology section with 'A system to test and develop low-cost heat storage materials'. Thenuka had a double success, also winning the SEAI Award.

Moate Community School also had two category winners.

Moate students Aoife Howlin, and Ally Duffy topped the junior group section of the Chemical, Physical and Mathematical category, with their project 'Nutri-Flo: A natural tree nut water filter for cattle by students.

Moate Community School's Lucy Carroll won the junior individual category in the Biological and Ecological category with her project 'Methane Busters: Harnessing tannins and feed additives to clean up slurry tank emissions'

And Our Lady's Bower won the intermediate group section of the Technology category with the project 'The Mould Busters' by students AnnaMarie Mullan, Bláthín Moran, and Aideen Derwin.

Athlone Community College trio Ayvin Lijo, Toomas Donohoe and Eoin Gately were also celebrating after taking home two prizes for their project 'Using Hydrophobic Magnetic Particles for an eco-friendly oil spill cleanup solution'. They won the Ely Lily Award, a special award, and they were also third in the intermediate group section of the Chemical, Physical and Mathematical category.

Moate Community School enjoyed a number of other category successes.

'Generating Power by Harnessing Swells Close to the Seashore' by students Fionn Murphy, and Gavin Quilty was second in the intermediate group section of the Technology category.

Aoibh Larkin, Leah Pillion, and Kayla Moran, were second in the intermediate group section of the Health and Wellbeing category with their project, 'Botanical Barriers: Harnessing plant compounds for UV protection during nail treatments'.

Another Moate student Molly Quinn was third in the junior individual Technology category, with the project 'Crouch- Bind- Set...PROTECT!'

From Our Lady's Bower Laoise Claffey, Amber Gallagher, and Muireann Kenny won third prize in the junior group section of the Chemical, Physical and Mathematical category, with their project Crunch Time: Unveiling the perfect potato for chips.

Emily O'Brien from Mean Scoil an Chlochair in Kilbeggan took second in the intermediate individual section of the Biological and Ecological category with the project, 'Forever farming – Sustainable Pest Control'

Coláiste Chiaráin Athlone enjoyed success when student Athénais Selve took third place in the Junior individual section of the Health and Wellbeing category with her project, ''Grip Strength: A good biomarker'.

These were the main awards presented to local schools.

A complete list of all awards to local entries will be published in this week's Westmeath Independent print edition.