His talents have also previously helped him win a trip to America where he competed against 1500 students in an international contest, walking away with one of the prizes. “I am passionate about engineering,’’ he added. “The industry gap year confirmed that it is the career for me. “Working on a real engineering project has been very exciting and I enjoyed the freedom to develop my own ideas.’’ Chris Weir, his mentor at REACT Engineering, said: “It is great that Sam has been recognised with this award. He is incredibly dedicated and hard-working and obviously has a bright future ahead of him.’’