ARAB NEWS
Spanning six days, the British Science Festival recently held in Bradford and saw an attendance of more than 50,000 visitors from school groups to families.
With 350 of the UK’s scientists and guest speakers discussing the latest developments in the field of science, there was plenty to keep visitors occupied.
The Gifted Program students were invited to participate as part of a Saudi Aramco donation to the British Science Association facilitated by Aramco Overseas Co. (AOC) public relations.
The 15-year-old male students, Fawaz Alanzi and Abdullah Al-Harbi, were accompanied by the program’s chairman Rubaian Shahrani. The festival is closely aligned with Aramco’s pillar of knowledge, encompassing education and culture.
Both students chose to showcase their science projects to the public during the festival. Fawaz focused on the uses of robotic technology, and Abdullah solved simple mathematical puzzles, including the Tower of Hanoi and Lock puzzles.
Abdullah was especially surprised when eight-year-old student Lucy Haggas from Hilltop Primary School was able to break the one-minute record for completing the Hanoi puzzle.
“The Chinese (Hanoi) rings are quite hard, but I did it,” added 10-year-old Ben Moon from Bradford Grammar.
“It is the first time students have participated in such a way since the gifted programs started Kingdomwide, with such participation allowing us to take advantage of meeting experts and helping the transfer of knowledge to contribute to developing the next Saudi Aramco Gifted Program,” said Shahrani.
AOC Managing Director Nabil K. Al-Dabal spoke highly of the students’ participation. “We are delighted that the gifted and talented students are participating in such an iconic UK science event. We hope this will not be the last time we see such a rich collaboration between Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.”
The festival has been in existence since 1831, with next year’s event to be held in Aberdeen. “I look forward to being able to participate again in 2012, and hope we can bring even more of our gifted students to experience an event of this caliber,” said Shahrani.
The Saudi Aramco Summer Gifted Program is an intensive annual program under the patronage of the King Abdul Aziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba). It is a 12-year partnership between Saudi Aramco and Mawhiba, targeting gifted Saudi students in the 10th and 11th grades who demonstrate outstanding talent in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
This year, 160 students participated over the course of one month.
