A NUCLEAR determination to succeed has gained one student a Young Champions award nomination.
Charlie Steeples, 12, from Grimethorpe, appeared in Parliament last year after putting together a project all about nuclear power.
Charlie is a keen scientist and has attended Science Club at Outwood Academy Shafton since he first started in year seven.
For his individual project, Charlie decided he wanted to change public perception of nuclear power and created a model nuclear reactor, carried out surveys and did plenty of research to back up his claim.
Science teacher and Science Club leader Charlotte Grace said: “We went to the Big Bang Fair Near Me, held at Doncaster racecourse, where Charlie was given the Best Science Project award.
“That was how he got involved in going to Parliament as part of a select few from across the country. He had the chance to present his work to the MPs, including our MP Stephanie Peacock. And now he has made it to the national finals of the competition, which are coming up in mid-March, so he has spent time refining and improving his work. In school he now has a display in the Learning Resource Centre to get in touch with more people.”
Charlotte said he spends one hour after school a week with Science Club, but invests lots of his own time into reading further into his subjects and working on his project.
“He is massively dedicated, so motivated and extremely hard working,” Charlotte said.
“He has demonstrated a lot of independence to put together the project himself, but then to continue it too, to have kept that motivation and dedication, is really impressive.
“His work ethic shows in the questions he asks in class, which is brilliant as a science teacher. He can often ask us things that we have to go away and look up ourselves, his questions can stump us sometimes.”
Charlie’s final model has working LED lights to show the journey of plasma through the reactor.
“I think because public perception is so negative towards nuclear power Charlie saw that as an opportunity.
“He has been crunching some numbers in his own time and reckons if we all switch to nuclear, our bills could drop by 87.5 per cent. So he makes some convincing arguments.”
