Sixteen-year-old Lucas Cundy graduated from UTC Leeds in summer 2019 with a clutch of top GCSE results, distinctions in his engineering technical qualifications and a letter of recommendation from the Chief Executive of Agfa Graphics. We interviewed him on GCSE results day when he explained how he got the letter:
“I did a project with Agfa last year to do with designing a solution for some heat lost in an acid reaction chamber and we had to pitch that to the Chief Executive of Agfa. The group that I was in ended up winning the programme, so I actually got a letter of recommendation from the CEO of Agfa. It was very scary, but somebody going to another school wouldn’t have had that opportunity.
Asked why he thought his team had won, Lucas said, “We designed a solution and then we contacted another company, Siemens, to see how much it would cost to make our solution. We calculated how efficient it would be in removing all that waste. We had all the numbers and statistics and that’s what did it.”
Lucas was very pleased with his results from the UTC: “I feel very good about my results overall. I’m very happy with the 9s in biology and physics and 8 in maths.
“I’ve always been quite focused around maths and science and that led to an interest in engineering. My previous school didn’t really have the facilities to accommodate what I wanted to do, whereas I came and looked round here and they had everything I wanted to do.
“It was hard to leave my friends but I made good friends here and had what I would class as a better education.
“Here it’s more specific and a lot more people are grouped together based on that interest in maths and science.
“I plan to do maths, physics, further maths and chemistry. I’ve yet to decide, but my results have opened up a lot of gateways to me. I want to go to university and do some kind of aeronautical engineering and then maybe go into the field of aerodynamics in cars, or that kind of thing. I’d love to work for Mercedes.”
Asked what he advice he would give to those considering a place in Year 10 at the UTC, Lucas said, “If you’re interested in maths or science, you won’t get much better than here.”
