50 young people from both primary and secondary schools gathered at Aberdeen Science Centre to take part in SCDI’s Young Engineers and Science Clubs (YESC) Regional Celebration of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) in partnership with BP and SHELL U.K. Limited.

The day featured 3 competitions as teams showcased their projects and contended for the competition prizes.

The event included a primary and secondary STEM competition, with industry volunteers and partners each providing a five-minute, hands-on challenge focusing on teamwork and problem solving.  The challenge doubles up as an opportunity to provide the young people with an insight into the different career paths available in the STEM industry. Our partners at Digital Xtra Fund provided drop-in robotics activities on the day.

The primary school STEM Challenge winner was Danestone Primary School, Aberdeen City.  The secondary school STEM Challenge winner was Elgin High School, Moray. An additional teamwork prize of a heliport site visit and simulator experience was provided by Bristow, and was awarded to Aberdeen Grammar School.

The event also hosted the regional heat of Construct a crane. Teams received a free kit of resources to design and build a working model crane.  Teams then took part in an exciting challenge to move cargo and find the winning design. Clerkhill Primary (Team1), Aberdeenshire and Elgin High School, Moray produced the winning designs.

Schools also showcased their projects to win the ‘Club of the Year’ titles (primary and secondary).  The 2022 Club of the Year titles were awarded to Clerkhill Primary School, Aberdeenshire and Peterhead Academy, Aberdeenshire.

Primary STEM Challenge Winner: Danstone Primary School, City of Aberdeen

Secondary STEM Challenge Winner: Elgin High School, Moray

Construct a Crane Primary Winner: Clerkhill Primary (Team1), Aberdeenshire

Construct a Crane Secondary Winner: Elgin High School, Moray

Bristow Heliport visit and simulation experience: Aberdeen Grammar School

Primary Regional Club of the Year Winner: Clerkhill Primary School, Aberdeenshire

Secondary Regional Club of the Year Winner: Peterhead Academy, Aberdeenshire

Further information:

The following 10 Clubs took part in the event:

• Aberdeen Grammar School, Team 1, Aberdeen City
• Aberdeen Grammar School, Team 2, Aberdeen City
• Clerkhill Primary School, Team 1, Aberdeenshire
• Clerkhill Primary School, Team 2, Aberdeenshire
• Danestone Primary School, Aberdeen City
• Elgin High School, Moray
• Lochside Academy, Aberdeen City
• Peterhead Academy, Aberdeenshire
• Riverbank Primary School, Aberdeen Primary School

The organisations providing STEM Challenges were ASCO, Bristow, BP, BSW Timber, Digital Xtra Fund, Kaefer, ORE Catapult, Shell UK Ltd, Tilhill, Vysus Group and Wood

The Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) is Scotland’s Economic and Social Forum. It is an independent membership network representing a cross-section of the private, public and social economy sectors in Scotland with an aim of influencing the agenda to ensure long-term sustainable economic growth and flourishing communities everywhere in Scotland.

SCDI’s Young Engineers and Science Clubs programme has played a leading role in growing interest and sparking enthusiasm in STEM subjects for over 30 years. There are now more than 1,500 primary and secondary schools in our network throughout Scotland’s 32 local authority areas, engaged in a variety of both curriculum linked and extra-curricular projects.

Since its inception in 2016, Digital Xtra Fund has supported various projects delivered by YESC. DXF continue our support this year for a COP26-related project, Code vs Climate, which is around climate tech. For more details about this and previous year’s project, please visit Round VI (2021/2022) initiatives supported by Digital Xtra Fund.