A JERSEY student who invented a device to support her sick father and a classmate who came up with a way to convert text into Braille for the blind have both won a national award for their efforts.
The two Year 9 students at Jersey College for Girls were winners in the Secondary Engineer Leaders Awards, an engineering competition for students from across the UK and Channel Islands.
A total of 32,000 entrants had to answer the question: ‘What would you do if you were an engineer?’
Participants were also encouraged to think about the needs of others.
Roxanna Clayson’s father had to have a colostomy after being diagnosed with cancer, so she came up with a stoma bag that vibrates when it needs to be emptied.
She said: ‘I was wondering what would make his life a bit easier. I hope and believe this will provide greater quality of life to all patients.’
Fellow JCG pupil Cassandra won an award for developing a text-Braille converter that can be plugged into a computer.
She said: ‘I was inspired by my family’s love for reading and the fact that, if one of us ever lost our vision, I would be able to provide them with what they love.
‘The diversity of books available to Braille people is significantly less than it should be.’
Both students had to produce large sketches surrounded by annotation and diagrams to explain their ideas – as well as a colour scheme and design to make them look attractive and marketable.
Finally, they had to write to an engineer explaining why their design should be made into a real-life product.
Roxanna and Cassandra’s designs could now be chosen to be manufactured by university engineers.
