And the 2019 Rogers Knight Award winner is…
(From left to right: Jason Morgan BCAS President, Allan Crawford from ARC Ltd, Colette Kilpatrick from St. Nicholas Roman Catholic School in East Lothian and Chris Rochester Primary Engineer UK Director)
On the 28th November, at the annual British Compressed Air Society (BCAS) Lunch, BCAS President Jason Morgan and Primary Engineer UK Director Chris Rochester announced the recipient of the BCAS Primary Engineer Rogers Knight Award for 2019 at The Savoy in London. The award is presented each year to an engineering professional in recognition of the impact they have had, working with pupils and teachers as part of the Primary Engineer programmes. Open to all teachers across the UK, to nominate their partner engineer, the Rogers Knight Award sees hundreds of entries from which the BCAS Board select one winner. This year, the standard of entries was exceptional and after a tough deliberation, the award was presented to Allan Crawford from ARC Ltd nominated by Colette Kilpatrick from St. Nicholas Roman Catholic School in East Lothian. Both Allan and Colette attended the prestigious BCAS Lunch at The Savoy to receive their awards.
“I was initially surprised as I didn’t know the school had nominated me, but I am very honoured to have won the award” said Crawford. “For me, it was a way to pass on my enthusiasm for engineering to a new generation. Not everyone will want to be an engineer, but I think it is important that anyone, who might consider it, can hear first-hand from someone who understands and enjoys the work.”
(From left to right: Jason Morgan BCAS President, Colette Kilpatrick from St. Nicholas Roman Catholic School in East Lothian, Chris Rochester Primary Engineer UK Director, and Allan Crawford from ARC Ltd)
Colette Kilpatrick added “I have to say, my school is delighted that ‘our’ engineer has been chosen to receive the Rogers Knight award. Allan, for many years, has selflessly taken a couple of days out of his busy schedule to visit our school and talk to the children, from P1 right up to P7, about engineering and future careers within engineering for the ‘If you were an engineer, what would you do?’ competition. Being a mechanical engineer himself, he has been able to show our children the variety of vocations within this discipline: from software and CAD, right up to huge crane designs for nuclear submarines…that got their attention!!!
Engineering and STEM are a major part of our curriculum, but sometimes it can be difficult to show the science and link it to real engineering career opportunities. Allan’s visits help us to achieve this. Many of last year’s P7’s, who are now at High School, in their leaving speeches, commented that they wanted to be engineers in the future and stated the work done with Allan had been one of the reasons that had inspired them.”
Jason Morgan, BCAS President said “BCAS is thrilled to again acknowledge an outstanding engineer who has made a significant difference to school pupils’ understanding of engineering and aspiration towards it, through the Primary Engineer Programmes. Allan was truly a worthy winner of the Rogers Knight Award this year, from a selection of high calibre nominees.
We are delighted to announce our continued sponsorship of the Primary Engineer programme next year, helping to recognise the excellent work of the engineering community across the UK and encouraging the engineers of the future into an exciting and rewarding career.”