Limerick student named Facebook Engineer of the Future

Scoil Mhuire agus Ide students Jack O’Doherty, Harry Edwards and Sean Geraghty won the Best Innovation Award in the F1 in Schools competition

placeholder image — Scoil Mhuire agus Ide students Jack O’Doherty, Harry Edwards and Sean Geraghty won the Best Innovation Award in the F1 in Schools competition

NEWCASTLE West student Harry Edwards has been named the first ever Facebook Engineer of the Future in his first ever time taking part in the F1 in Schools competition.

And there was double celebration at his school, Scoil Mhuire agus Ide, Newcastle West, as Harry and team mates Jack O’Doherty and Sean Geraghty also brought home the Best Innovation Award.

The trio, calling themselves the Rogue 3 Racing, fought off stiff competition from 60 other schools to win the award and were placed in the top 10 finalists.

F1 in Schools is an international STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) competition for students aged between 11 and 19, in which groups of between three and six students have to design and manufacture a miniature car out of the official Model Block using CAD/CAM design tools.

This year for the first time, Facebook became a Gold Sponsor of the F1 in Schools competition and introduced their own award called the ‘Facebook Engineer of the Future Award’.

The award recognises an outstanding individual with excellent technical skills, teamwork and communication abilities as demonstrated throughout their participation in the F1 in Schools programme.

Teams had to nominate a member to represent their school for this award and Harry Edwards was chosen to wear the jersey for SMI.

Nine students from across the country took part in a three-hour assessment led by Facebook's Clonee Data Center team. The assessment involved working together in teams of three to solve a real-life Formula 1 design problem.

For Harry, the award carries a cash prize of €500 and he has also been accepted into the ‘Facebook's Engineering Academy’ where he will be mentored in design.

He will also be invited to Facebook events and get to experience what working for Facebook is like.