Wilmslow resident, Adam McDermott, 17, was one of three students from Abbey College Manchester that recently took part in this year's national Engineering Education Scheme, and as a group they achieved a respectable second place out of 27 entrant schools and colleges.
The team geared up to take on the challenge of designing a system which harnesses energy from students walking up the five flights of stairs in the college. The aim of the project was to generate green energy in the college environment.
Funded by the Engineering Education Scheme, the students worked alongside a team of experts at engineering and building supplies company, NG Bailey, and Abbey College Manchester's Head of Physics, Simmone Hewett.
Working across six months, the group's project involved a three day residential trip to Newcastle University to use their laboratories to build and test their design.
Adam says: "I have a great passion for engineering and was excited to hear that I would be part of the engineering team. This project allowed me to use my skills to make a real difference, and for our team to come second is just incredible."
Abbey College Manchester Head of Physics, Simmone Hewett comments: "I am very proud of the three students. They have all worked so hard on making this project a great success.
"They are a true credit to the college, and have demonstrated the ability to balance this with their A Level studies, producing a project that was of degree standard.
"Schemes like this offer students the opportunity to work on resolving current issues relevant to society. The college is happy to be involved in the project, raising the profile of science subjects and careers such as engineering."
Participating Students; Iman Namjoynik (18) from Manchester, Adam McDermott (17) from Wilmslow and Jennifer Roughley (17) from Cheadle.
