Remarkable Year 12 Student awarded Arkwright Engineering Scholarship  

The Arkwright Scholarship is the most highly regarded engineering scholarship in the United Kingdom. Offering support, mentorship, and work experience during a student’s A-levels, the Arkwright Scholarship exists to help talented sixteen-year-old engineers ‘change the world as future leaders’.   

Among this year’s cohort of remarkable Arkwright Scholars was Berkhamsted’s own Bruno A, a Year 12 student of Maths, Further Maths, Physics, and Computer Science who has been sponsored for the scholarship by the Royal Air Force.  

Initially applying against over a thousand talented young applicants, attaining the scholarship was no easy feat for Bruno. The Year 12’s application process was made even tougher when the exams for the Arkwright Scholarship commenced around the same time as his GCSEs. But, with the help of his Design & Technology teacher, Amanda Attfield, who spends much of her time supporting Berkhamsted students who apply for the Arkwright Scholarship, Bruno took the rigorous application process in his stride and was named as one of just 315 2023 Arkwright Scholars this week.   

“I started my application by filling in a form where I answered questions about my hobbies and predicted grades. Then I sat a two-hour exam which asked me to provide designs and an overview of ideas to solve a set of engineering problems. After I passed these rounds, I had an interview with an ex-Arkwright Scholar and another individual who works for the programme. I only found out that I passed the interview stage a couple of days ago! I was a little surprised when I first found out I was successful, but now I’m really excited about the opportunity.” Bruno says.  

Bruno’s interest in engineering piqued during the Covid-19 pandemic. At a time when most of us were locked at home waiting for the world to return to normality, Bruno was using his spare time to build an eco-system to simulate natural selection, a project he would later submit as part of his application for the Arkwright Scholarship.  

“During lockdown, I was a little bored, so I started some STEM projects at home. During this time, I kickstarted a three-year project where I built an eco-system and I used this project during my application for the Arkwright Scholarship”.  

As for what Bruno will gain from the scholarship, work experience is something he’s eager to begin.

“My sponsor is the RAF, so I am looking forward to getting some work experience and to learn from the talented engineers who already work there!”  

Despite just starting Year 12, the future already looks bright for Bruno:

 “I’d love to work as an RAF or military engineer one day, I’m not entirely sure what my future holds yet, but I hope this scholarship will provide me with the opportunity to explore my interests and begin to build my future career”. 

Bruno is not the first Berkhamstedian to become an Arkwright Scholar. The Year 12 follows in the footsteps of successful Old Berkhamstedians, like Ben Harris, who also attained the scholarship as a Year 12 back in 2019, followed by former student Jessica C in 2021. Bruno and the Arkwright Scholars preceding him are a credit to the DT department who offer much fantastic guidance and support to our engineering students who apply for the scholarship.

Congratulations Bruno, we cannot wait to see where this opportunity takes you!