Luton apprentice engineers a place in Make UK's Rising Star national final

A Luton degree apprentice has won a prestigious award.

Solomon McKiernan, 19, who works at aerospace engineering company Leonardo, has won Make UK’s ‘Rising Star’ award for the Midlands and East region.

The Make UK awards recognise the contributions of individuals working in the manufacturing industry across the UK and although Solomon only started working on his degree apprenticeship in September, his ability to apply his skills in a wide range of settings has made him stand out say judges.

Jo Hughes, Apprentice Training Officer at the Luton site at Capability Green, said: “I think Solomon has to be one of the most proactive apprentices I have worked with. His enthusiasm for engineering really shines through, whether it’s the glowing reports we get from his placements in different engineering departments or the top grades he has received on his degree course. Performance like this doesn’t happen by chance, it is due to a sustained effort on his part to stretch himself to his full capacity.”

Solomon recently project managed a team who went on to win the IMechE Apprentice Automation Challenge, as well as volunteering for local STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) initiatives for local schools, even connecting virtually with schools amidst lockdown restrictions. Earlier this year he organised and participated in a skydive with a group of seven other Leonardo employees in aid of the Alzheimer’s Society, raising over £6,000 for the organisation.

Leonardo’s degree apprenticeship programme means that Solomon splits his week between his studies for his BEng degree in electrical and electronic engineering at the University of Hertfordshire and placement rotations at Leonardo across a variety of both hardware and software engineering disciplines. Leonardo has already recognised Solomon’s performance, after he was selected for their First-Year Apprentice of the Year award for the UK.

For Solomon, engineering isn’t a topic to be studied, but rather a lens through which life becomes more exciting.

He said: “After completing my GCSEs I couldn’t wait to start an engineering career so I jumped straight into industry via the apprenticeship route. My degree apprenticeship is satisfying for me as I can prove the theory I learn in university through the practical results I can achieve working in a live programme in industry. What I’ve found is that I am able to transfer my skills between different projects, so for example the communication skills I use to talk about engineering to young people or fundraise for charity, are used again when I’m in a design review explaining technology, so it all helps me to grow as a professional.”

Solomon was inspired to select the STEM subjects he studied for his GCSEs at St Thomas More Catholic Secondary School in Bedford after learning about engineering from his family.

He said: “My grandad was in engineering for his whole career and I remember him once coming along to one of my school science fairs and I saw him proudly looking at the homemade projector and speakers I’d built. It made me realise that I could create exciting pieces of technology from scratch and that enthusiasm has never left me.”

Solomon will now go on to the national finals of the Make UK Awards to be held in January 2022.