A north-east student will travel to Geneva after taking top spot at a technology awards ceremony.
Callum Christie, a former pupil of Peterhead Academy, is just one of three students from across the UK to win an all-expenses-paid trip to visit the Large Hadron Collider at CERN – his prize in the Career Ready STEM Student of the Year Awards.
The awards recognises those who have been transformed by their experience on the Career Ready programme of masterclasses, mentoring and paid internships, and who have shown a commitment to pursuing a career in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) industry.
Last night, the 17-year-old said he was “astounded” to have won the trip.
“It is an engineer’s dream to visit the largest scientific experiment designed by thousands of engineers worldwide,” he added.
“My internship was extremely rewarding and with the excellent feedback I received, I felt engineering was definitely the career for me. My mentor, Mustafa, also gave me invaluable career and business advice and gave up so much of his own time to guide me, giving me the confidence, courage and determination to pursue a mechanical engineering degree.”
Mustafa Mohamed, a process engineer at Aberdeen firm Centrica where Callum interned, added he was “proud” of his pupil.
He said: “It has been a genuine pleasure working with Callum and he has shown a real flair for engineering, particularly during his time as an intern with Centrica, and I am sure this will lead him to a fantastic career in the oil and gas industry.”
Career Ready is a national charity that links education with businesses to help prepare young people for the world of work.