Oakgrove Integrated College scooped three of the top prizes at this year’s BT Young Scientist & Technology competition.  The students Megan Duffy and Zoe McGirr won accolades of “Best School” and “Best Project” in Northern Ireland and second place, Biology.

Principal Jill Markham is overjoyed at the success.  Describing her reaction, she said: “I received a phone call from Dublin telling me the results of the judging.  I was absolutely thrilled and so proud of the pupils and staff involved.  It confirms that excellent teaching, hard work and support are our proven recipe for success.”

The event, held at Dublin’s RDS from January 9 – 12, involved showcasing of projects by 541 schools who had been short-listed out of over 1800 entries from all over the country.

The journey to success started with a school-based discussion of plant germination.  The project aimed to develop better methods of harvesting seeds from crops.  The harvested seeds are replanted by farmers in developing countries. After three days of presentation and rigorous judging, the verdict brought success to Oakgrove in each of three categories.

Oakgrove’s project won the University of Ulster’s Specialist Prize for Best project in NI as well as coming second in the category Junior Biology and finally bringing home the Matrix Award for the Best Overall School in Northern Ireland.

Speaking after Oakgrove’s successes, lead teacher, Christine Gilmore said: “Just being accepted to as prestigious an event as the BT Young Scientist was achievement enough but, when the girls’ names started to be called out and for multiple awards, we could hardly contain ourselves! The girls worked so hard so, to have that acknowledged with such success, shows just what Oakgrove pupils can do with the right focus and support.”