A DARWEN schoolgirl was named ‘outstanding student’ in a county-wide manufacturing contest run by aerospace giant BAE Systems.

Year Nine Darwen Vale High School pupil Ionika Redugo beat 135 other pupils to the top accolade in the ‘Make It!’ enterprise challenge.

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The 14-year-old was joined by seven of her classmates – Hannah Gudgeon, Lucy Townsend, Jack Wilkinson, Kurt Bates, Macey Skidmore, Beth Crossley and Keira Meek-Hartley – for the competition at Ribby Hall in Wrea Green, near Blackpool, earlier this month.

The event was one in a series of manufacturing challenges that The Manufacturing Institute and BAE Systems – which has a factory in Samlesbury – collaborate on as part of their ‘Make It’ campaign, which aims to attract bright young talent into the manufacturing sector.

Ionika said: “I was very surprised and happy to have won this award, but I could not have done it without the rest of team.

“I want to be a top engineer in the future so winning outstanding individual was a huge honour.”

Ruth Hugill, assistant principal and head of teaching and learning at Darwen Vale, said: “Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) is so important to all of us.

“We aim to be a centre of excellence in Stem, developing our children through strong teaching and learning to be accomplished leaders in their areas.

“With our fabulous facilities, our growing links with business and industry and wonderful pupils who go out and compete in engineering events like this, we are forging the pathways to a strong, bright future.”

Teams from participating schools were tasked with building the prototype of a vehicle for use in humanitarian and military disasters for a fictional organisation called the Joint Emergency Committee.

For the final part of the competition, each of the 17 teams had two minutes to present their idea and their company in a Dragons’ Den-style pitch before the winner was decided.

To make their manufacturing business a reality, the Darwen Vale students had to decide upon a managing director and a number of team roles before creating their brand and prototypes.

They then pitched their idea to the BAE Systems managers and a number of other local and multinational employers that the school is partnered with.