On 20 July, Kiyo Matsui BEng, a graduate of Civil Engineering with Sustainability at Brunel University, was awarded this year’s ICE Student Prize.
The prize was presented to Kiyo by Elena Rinaldi, membership development officer on behalf of ICE London. The prize includes a certificate of merit and a cash prize of £250 and is awarded to the student who is judged to have performed the best in the last two years of their JBM accredited civil engineering degree course. Read Kiyo’s account of being told the good news and his experiences on his three year degree course:
"It hadn’t entered my mind that upon graduation I would be winning the ICE Student Prize. The evening before graduation my main concerns were frantically trying to find a suit that fit and securing graduation tickets for my family. In the midst of this I received an unexpected call. Initially, I was very concerned that I had made some error with my graduation arrangements; however I was being congratulated on achieving the ICE Student Award. I was ecstatic, and completely forgot my graduation nerves while I ran around the house telling my family. Perhaps it was an appropriate end to my university career that this was again happening in a blaze of confusion at the last minute.
"For me, receiving the ICE Student Prize fully justifies all the time I spent in my room studying, determined to make the most of my time at Brunel. This award is the perfect return on all the time I have invested. I am very grateful to everyone who worked with me, especially the lecturers who helped me to achieve my best. The greatest assets a university can have are lecturers who are directly engaged with their students, and this is how I’ve been able to achieve so much over the past three years. Over this period, I’ve grown and developed as a person and receiving this award has highlighted how much more effective I am at working hard and applying myself in all areas of my life.
"Civil engineering was the perfect degree for my own personal development; it is highly stimulating academically and has prepared me well for my working life ahead. Civil engineers are now at the forefront of our changing world. With the threat of climate change and many nations undergoing rapid development, civil engineers have become more important than ever. Sustainability continues to be of critical importance and this was highlighted to me in the modules I studied on environmental law and sustainable energy systems. Studying these issues has inspired and motivated me to work hard and underscores the value and relevance of my degree.
"At the award ceremony, I was surprised to see my GCSE history teacher, whose son was graduating in Electrical Engineering. After the euphoria of my name being read out, and the flash of many cameras, I walked down to take my seat. My teacher caught my attention, saying, “That’s really good!” and it was then that I truly felt the accomplishment, and understood how far I’d come in recent years.
Despite this feeling of accomplishment, there is still a huge amount to learn. I think the most important thing that my years at Brunel have taught me is that; in the words of Socrates, “All I know is that I know nothing.”
For the sake of any future employers reading this, I hope this is not entirely true."