Laois child with pacemaker co-winner of Intel award for exciting medical study

A young Laois boy who has a heart pacemaker has won an award for an exciting project to try and help millions of people avoid heart surgery.

Tomás Ramsbottom from Timahoe National School, along with science teammate Emma Burke, have won the school’s annual Intel Mini Scientist competition.

'Perfectly Paced' was this year’s big winner, a joint project by the 5th class pair.

Their project looked at a proposal to power a wireless pacemaker through kinetic energy, meaning Tomás and other people who wear pacemakers will not have to undergo surgeries to replace batteries.

They will now go on to represent the school at regional and possibly All Ireland level at the Intel Mini Scientist Exhibition.

It is a result of a strong focus on science by the small Laois primary school, where everyone takes part from 3rd to 6th class.

5th class with their Intel certificates.

Timahoe NS holds a Intel Mini Scientist Exhibition in the school every year, sending winners to the next stages, and has twice won the national Intel prize as a result, while fostering a great knowledge and curiosity among pupils in scientific study.

They held their annual showcase, on October 26, with lots of other winners recognised for their great scientific work.

Runners up are Seán Farmer and Sarah Jane Weafer who did a project about the Mars rovers, the motorised robots sent to drive around Mars to study the planet.

They created a clever model rover that was programmed through coding to move around and avoid objects, combining engineering, computers and space study.

Principal Michael McEvoy praised the children for their efforts and commitment to the competition. 

He also thanked the parents for supporting the children’s learning throughout the process and the teachers for their coordination of the event.

“The standard of science projects was incredibly high and reflected the enthusiasm for science that exists within the school. It was also clearly evident that these children have benefitted from exposure to the exhibition over a number of years as the quality of visual presentation, oral delivery and all-round ingenuity was exceptional,” he told the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

The projects cover a range of topics including agriculture, food science,energy, forces, health and hygiene, space, technology and engineering.

Third class (pictured below) exhibited as a whole class in preparation for next year, completed an in-depth project on climate change that was visually stunning. The judges were impressed with the teamwork involved in their presentation and their lively presentation through song. 

Visiting Intel judges Ann Tilson and Norma O’Hanlon had to pick a winner from what they described as “an exceptional standard of work” producing projects that were "so polished, so diverse and so interesting".

They also noted how encouraging it was to see so many girls excited about STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Maths).
Category prize winners are; Engineering Award: Muireann Brown for ‘Moo-tastic Monitor’.

Health & Hygiene Award: Mia McGrath, Róisín Hogan-O’Donnell & Karina Brazynetz for ‘Dirty Mouth’.

Environmental Science Award: Harry Mc Evoy, Megan Ryan and Ryan McEvoy for ‘Dispose of food waste right, save the world a fight’. 

Display Exhibition Award: Anna Clancy, Lucy Scully and Niamh Ramsbottom for ‘Sustainability to put Co2 to History’.

Vital charity gets huge boost in Laois thanks to epic climb in memory of Portlaoise father and son

Scientific Research Award: ‘Going down in Ash’ by Darragh O Connor and Lucy Sage. 

Presentation Skills Award: Dental Dilemma’ by Emilia Mc Evoy.

Ag Science Award: ‘A New Era of Spuds’ by Daniel Tynan.

Data Collection Award: ‘Electrical Vehicles but at what cost?’ by Grace Kavanagh.