Teenager takeover at Teesside University

Hundreds of children have been spending time this summer here with us at Teesside to sample a taste of higher education.

Some experienced life as Teesside University students during the higher education residential summer school, while others were transformed into budding scientists to take part in a chemistry at work event.

Explore a range of subjects The summer school allows Year 10 pupils (aged 14 and 15) from schools in an area stretching from the Tees Valley to Tyneside an opportunity to live and experience the campus like a Teesside student. During their stay they explored a range of subjects including marketing, health, sports psychology, forensics, animation and radio broadcasting.

Among those taking part were 15-year-olds Nicole Wilkinson and Matthew Atkinson, from St Peter’s School in Middlesbrough.

Nicole, of Ormesby, said: 'I’ve really enjoyed it, especially the ice-breaker event which has helped us get to know people from schools across the North East. The residential side of it has been good as we’ve been able to see what it would be like to be a student here.

'I’ve always wanted to go to university and taking part in this has made me more determined to go to university. The campus really good and I really enjoyed taking part in the session about forensics.'

Matthew, of Grangetown, said: 'I’m interested in working in the media and coming here has made me sure that I want to go to university. I’ve been really impressed. It’s been good find out about the academic side of university, with the inspirational lecture and finding out about the courses, but there has also been a good social side to the event too with a lot of activities organised for us.'

Meanwhile, around 400 children and 30 teachers from across the North East took part in a three-day Chemistry at Work event organised by the North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) and hosted by Teesside. The event included a variety of presentations from business, education and health service representatives on a diverse range of subjects ranging from forensics to diabetes and science. Among those taking part were Verity Calvert and Komal Munakhya, both 14, of High Tunstall School, Hartlepool, who were finding out about hygiene in a session held in a food laboratory at Teesside. Verity said: 'We washed our hands with something called glitterbug and then put our hands under UV light. It was a shock to see how much dirt is still there!' Nigel Atkinson, BSc (Hons) Food Nutrition and Health Science course leader, said: 'We’ve been looking at the importance of hand washing. People may think they have washed their hands properly, but the glitterbug binds the proteins still present on the hands after washing and glows white under the UV light.' Komal added: 'It’s been really interesting and I’ve enjoyed taking part. I’ve enjoyed this session and also another which looked at urine and how it can help to diagnose different diseases.'

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