Cricket buggy engineer wins prestigious scholarship

Saturday 14 October 2017

A 16-year-old student from Jersey College for Girls has been awarded a prestigious Arkwright Scholarship in recognition of her 'outstanding potential as a future Engineer' after she designed a buggy to mark limits on cricket fields.

Charlie Miles was one of five local students to apply for the scholarship among 1,600 others and is one of the lucky 400 to receive it.

Charlie first heard of the Arkwright Trust, which was set up to encourage bright young minds into engineering as a career. when David Jones, Head of Design & Technology at JCG, mentioned it. After successfully convincing the Arkwright panel by achieving highly in the two hour aptitude test paper last February, she traveled to Bath University in July for a "challenging interview." In Bath, she took part in a series of challenges, which included building robots, and also attended lectures. Charlie's innovative GCSE project particularly impressed the interview panel.

Having played cricket for many years, Charlie has spent a lot of time at cricket fields and this is where she got the idea for a working prototype of a buggy to travel around the boundary of a cricket field, periodically marking the limit with a sprayed line. She told Express: "I saw how people took ages marking the boundaries and I thought of a buggy that would do it quicker. I had the idea in year 11 and then I developed it further. It was quite challenging, it required a lot of reading and a lot of adjustments."

The teenager's hard work paid off and she was awarded the prestigious scholarship, which includes a £600 cheque and a prestigious sponsor. Upon hearing the news she had been awarded the scholarship, Charlie was amazed. "I wasn't expecting it. There was so much high-talent when I went to Bath. I was quite surprised. Being the only one in Jersey to receive it makes me feel like I am part of something bigger." The teenager will be putting the money to good use to fund a school chemistry trip to Bristol University.

David Jones is also very proud of the teenager's achievements. He said: "We are delighted that Charlie has been awarded an Arkwright scholarship.  As one of our brightest young design talents, she continues to excel with design challenges, presenting her ideas in outstanding technical detail. This seems to come so naturally to her which is very exciting to see."

Because good things come in pairs, Charlie was very pleased to discover the name of her sponsor, billionaire financier Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, through the Eranda Rothschild Foundation, which supports medical research and education. "I was thrilled to have them as my sponsor due to my interest to pursue a career in chemical engineering or biomaterial engineering. The scholarship will hopefully open up a wealth of opportunities for me in the future."

Speaking of the future, Charlie is hoping she will get to work on more projects and to join Loughborough University, a public research university in the East Midlands. She is also hoping to see more girls study engineering, like she did after being inspired by her granddad, an electrical engineer. "There is a need for more girls in engineering. Not enough girls are encouraged into it because it is such a male-dominated area. But it is so interesting, I thoroughly enjoy it!"