‘Irrigation System for growing crops in Developing  Countries’ was the title of a scheme developed by a team of five girls: Amelia Harmer, Miriam Morgan, Jing wen Xie, Rebecca Ashfield and Milly Hawling from Godolphin School.

known as ‘Archimedes Crew’, they took away the trophy and top prize money for their project on Monday, March 16. The judges praised all of the ‘superb’ projects entered, but of the Archimedes Crew entry, Judge Louise Tizzard, Geoservices Director, Wessex Archaeology said: “This one stood out, a very well researched and well-considered project. You showed great understanding of both the science and the scientific process as well as the technology behind your designs – commendable winner.”

The team said: ‘Our device would bring a solution to the food security issue in the Central African Republic as it would access sufficient affordable and nutritious food. Our project is a device that transports water from a local river to a water tank and then distributes it to nearby rooftops for crop growth.“

Runner up in the 2020 Challenge was from St Edmund’s Girls School, Grace Moody with a project called ‘SafePee’.

Judge Helen Harrison, Deputy Head of Department for Electrical Engineering & Construction, Wiltshire College said: “A commendable effort for being on your own and not having the support of a team. You have clearly thought about the impact your prototype would have on the people using this to create a safe environment to encourage and improve sanitation in India’.  Grace said: ‘‘SafePee’ is a hand-operated wind-up pair of lights that can go inside and outside a public toilet cubicle in the slum area of Dharavi, Mumbai, India. By improving the lighting around public toilets ‘SafePee’ will improve people’s safety, encouraging them to make better use of proper sanitation. In turn, this reduces environmental pollution, and improves hygiene, health and water quality.”

This is the third year Salisbury Soroptimists have run the STEM Challenge, jointly sponsored by Gilo Industries and Wessex Archaeology, for girls in local schools to raise their awareness of the inspiring career opportunities there are within Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The challenge to Year 8&9 girls was to research, design and develop a sustainable prototype for a solution to improve life for people living in poverty in the developing world.

The six entries came from St Edmund’s Girls School, South Wilts Girls School, Godolphin School and Kingdown School.

South Wilts UTC hosted the event for a third year.