Two LP Students Win Minds Underground STEAM Essay Competition

In March, a number of Year 9 students entered the Minds Underground Essay Competition after being inspired by the activities and excitement of British Science Week. This year, the competition from U2 Tuition saw over 1,400 students enter from across the globe including entries from South Korea, Nigeria, Russia, Pakistan, and the USA.

From a selection of essay topics, students focused on the Young Mind’s Conundrum Contest which begged the question; ‘If we found another planet that could support human life, but there was only room for 200 spaces on the ship, who should we take?’ With a world’s population of 7.9 billion, that’s 39,500,000 people per place!

When Head of Science, David Hammond, discovered the competition he thought it would be the perfect opportunity to engage students in creative, scientific thinking and really explore the idea of STEAM.

“There was a strong ethical connection between this essay that resonated with the School’s values. It was also great for students to see how science connects to STEAM and real-world problems coming in the future for humanity. During British Science Week, Year 9’s Biology, Chemistry and Physics lessons were based on microbes and space. We decided to follow this essay competition due to the connection to space which we love in the Science Department at Leighton Park. We introduced the concepts covered in the essay and set it as an optional activity. 20 students completed the challenge!” commented David.

Achieving a phenomenal first place in the international competition was Alice with her focus on education.  “When I was writing my essay, I took quite a generalised approach to the question, naming groups of people. I thought it would be very important to have doctors, teachers and children to keep the colony safe and it’s future bright. Education is so essential to the upbringing of young people.”

Alice continued, “I thought that the topic proposed for this competition was interesting, and genuinely quite realistic! It could very well be an issue we as a society will face in the future. Thinking ahead, or really just considering such a deep moral dilemma was a great experience.” In good company, highly commended for her take on the problem was Antigoni. Also praised by the department for her entry was Jessy.

In the Lower Sixth, Rachel, was also inspired to enter the Minds Underground Medicine Essay Competition aimed at engaging Sixth Form students in university-level research and reasoning skills. Rachel was awarded overall winner for her piece on ‘If you could invent a new drug, what would it be and why?’

Rachel reflected, “My essay was about the vital importance for an antiviral drug to treat dengue fever. This is because despite the cost of tens of thousands of deaths and billions of pounds due to dengue each year, the only recommended drug to treat dengue fever is paracetamol. On top of this, changes in climate put millions more people at risk of dengue every year.”

“The essay competition was recommended to me after I mentioned that I was interested in science writing, and even though I only had a couple days to write it before the deadline I received lots of encouraging advice about the essay, such as how to reference to a university standard. I’ve also developed a greater interest for science through Leighton Park’s STEAM Club, and other opportunities we are offered such as the UK Chemistry Olympiad.” explained Rachel.

The judges wrote, “We were delighted to see a range of original and enlightened responses that demonstrated students’ close engagement with the outside world, whilst also showcasing their creative thinking and problem-solving abilities.”

Read Alice’s Essay!

Read Rachel’s Essay!