The ‘Your Life’ campaign aims to inspire young people in the UK to study Maths and Physics and demonstrate how studying these subjects can unlock life and career opportunities. This year, in conjunction with BAE Systems, Your Life ran a Formula 100 competition for young inventors, designed to show how Maths and Physics subjects can lead to exciting and rewarding future careers for young people.
Julia Wardley-Kershaw, of Northampton High School, entered the competition by submitting a 30-second video answering the question ‘What would you invent and why?’ The judges were particularly impressed by her innovative safety system for aircraft and awarded her first place. Aptly, Julia’s prize was a tour of BAE Systems’ Military Air and Information business in Warton. During the visit, Julia toured the Typhoon and Hawk aircraft assembly lines, met BAE Systems’ test pilots and even had the opportunity to try out a state-of-the-art flight simulator.
Hear from Julia herself, by reading some of her highlights below:
Why did you enter?
"I entered the Formula 100 competition because I’m interested in making films, and have made one before. I’m also fascinated by engineering, so the competition allowed me to join both these interests together and invent something."
What do you think about the prize?
"Incredible! I didn’t realise this wonderful technology existed here. Today has been absolutely brilliant."
What did you like about speaking to people today?
"The level of detail that people go into is incredible."
What was the most interesting part of the day for you?
"I enjoyed seeing how something so complex can be made so simple. I enjoyed seeing the Typhoon assembly line and meeting the pilots was great."
Where do you see your future after todays’ visit?
"I know now that I’m more interested in aeroplanes, or the plane branch of aerospace. I wasn’t sure if I was interested in performance cars or planes."
"I’m about to do my GCSE’s, then A-levels for which I’ll definitely study math’s and engineering. The next step is university, and after today, I’d be more inclined to study aerospace engineering."
