Net Results: I know it's one of those clichés that get trotted out endlessly, but it's true: the future of a country lies with its young people, writes Karlin Lillington.
We have had an earful of late on how interest and enrolment in science and technology courses is on the slide - just as those areas offer so much in terms of career, reward and the opportunity to play a significant role in the future of the island.
Too often, the perceived solution is to throw on courses for school leavers or add new subjects on at the college or university level - which really only sticks a plaster over a problem that grows from the way in which we approach the teaching and support of science and technology at the primary level. Seeds need to be planted young.
A crucial but endlessly overlooked way of stimulating interest in science and technology subjects is to guarantee that schools have solid computing facilities, broadband internet connections, and teachers who get the training to know how to make the most of such fantastic learning tools.
And students need to see role models for careers in these areas - especially girls, who enter science and tech careers in much smaller numbers than boys. Role models can, of course, come from industry, getting inspiring, student-friendly employees to visit schools. That should be one of many ways in which the industries that ultimately will look to today's children for tomorrow's well-educated employees can play their part.
But perhaps the best role models are top-achieving students themselves - those who have chosen science and technology as their inspiration and passion, because such pure dedication, confidence and capability is itself infectious.
This small island has produced a sequence of outstanding students in recent times. And, this month, we just produced three more. I'd like to salute Mairead McCloskey, Patrick Corbett and Susan Spillane, who have proven themselves to be at the top of their fields across the island and, in the case of Mairead and Patrick, internationally as well.
Mairead and Patrick represented, respectively, Ireland and Northern Ireland at Intel's International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), the world's largest pre-college science competition, held earlier this month in Cincinnatti, Ohio.
At this major event for students, Patrick, from St. Patrick's College, Maghera, took the Second Place Grand Award in Engineering, with $1,500 in prize money.
Patrick's project began as part of his A-level work in technology. Looking for a good subject, he spoke to Sperin Metal in Draperstown, Co Derry, which told him of a manufacturing problem that occurs when bearings aren't kept properly lubricated. The firm had to use an expensive, manual process to ensure the bearings were kept in order. Patrick worked with Sperin Metal to develop a prototype for a self-automated lubrication system, which produced significant savings for the company, and has been applied across the whole factory.
Mairead proved herself to be one of the real stars of the show in her area of physics. From Loreto College, Coleraine, Mairead won $11,500 in total for her project entitled 'Chaotic Fluids: An Examination of Phase Transitions in Taylor-Couette Flow'. She took the $5000 Intel ISEF Best of Category Award in Physics; the $3000 First Place Grand Award in Physics; the $2000 First Place award from United Technologies Corporation; the $1000 First Place from the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Physical Society; and a $500 Award for Distinguished Technical Communication in a Written Report, Society for Technical Communication.
She also had won the Intel Ireland Excellence prize in the Physics/Chemistry/Mathematic section of the ESAT BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, where her prize was the trip to the Intel International Science Fair to represent Ireland.
Mairead's project is based on fluid dynamics and her project derived from an interest in chaos theory - the notion that enormous complexity can arise out of what seem to be very simple systems. Her engagement with chaos theory came from reading a book on the subject, a bit of recreational reading that has opened doors for her now.
Her project looked at the behaviour of water trapped between two rotating cylinders. She designed and built two sets of apparatus, first with the help of her school and later with the University of Ulster. She's now considering an offer to study physics at Oxford University.
And hats off, too, to Cork student Susan Spillane of St Angela's College, St Patrick's Hill, Cork. Susan won this year's Junior Certificate Science Medal, presented to the student with the best Junior Cert science paper by the MIT Club Ireland, an organisation of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Irish alumni.
