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An Arkwright Engineering Scholarship is the most esteemed scholarship of its type in the UK, designed to inspire students to pursue their dreams and change the world as an outstanding engineer of the future.
The Scholarships are awarded to hard-working 16 year old students through a rigorous selection process.
We caught up with Amanda to hear more about the Arkwright Scholarship and outstanding GCSE’s results.
How do you feel your Arkwright Scholarship will influence your future career in engineering or related fields and how do you plan to use these opportunities?
The Arkwright Scholarship will provide me with valuable experiences to help make an informed decision about my future career. Through the program, I will have access to mentors from various engineering industries and be connected to other aspirational engineers, allowing me to receive feedback and ideas, which is particularly helpful since I don’t personally know any engineers. I believe that, combined with work experience and other resources provided, this will enable me to choose the specific area of engineering I want to specialise in.
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while studying for your GCSEs, and how did you overcome them to achieve such high grades?
My biggest challenges were learning how to prioritise between my exams and everything else and avoid procrastination. The way I overcame this was through timetabling and setting myself strict hours when to work and when to find breaks. Though I regularly did not end up sticking to it, this enabled me to have an even spread across all subjects and cover all topics while being able to do other things, taking away some of my worries.
What advice would you give to other students who are aiming for top grades and prestigious scholarships like Arkwright?
My main advice would be to know what you want and keep that goal at the forefront of your mind.
As you have probably heard many times, these are extremely tough and require a lot out of you so which resulted for me in a lack of motivation. Having this goal ensured I stuck to it and put in the work needed to achieve these results.
Also take any help that is available to you! For my GCSE’s, I bothered my teachers so much with practice questions and meetings where I would just quiz them on whatever area I found difficult and they were so much help.
Same went for Arkwright – I presented my project to more people I can count and had many people passing on ideas to me throughout the whole stage of my application and project (a shout out to Mr Fitzgibbons!) This feedback I received was so important in refining my work to be the best it could be.
What subjects or areas are you most passionate about, and how do you see them shaping your future?
The subjects I am most passionate about are the sciences because I believe that they are the best way for me to create a significant impact. I see them as an ever-evolving field that is creating solutions in every part of life – whether finding medical cures to ailments, providing pathways to interplanetary exploration or simply the explanation of everything around us. I think these will shape my future through new inventions and discoveries will have an impact on our lives as well allowing me to be directly involved as a part of it.
We're pleased to announce that for the third year in succession, we have had a student accepted as an Arkwright Engineering Scholar. Congratulations to Amanda! We can't wait to see the amazing things it helps you achieve.
- Mr Fitzgibbons, Head of Design and Technology
Congratulations to Amanda for all the hard work that led to being awarded the prestigious Arkwright Engineering Scholarship and achieving outstanding GCSE results!