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Students thank CLAAS for scholarship support

Posted 1 March 2014

Three Harper Adams students have given thanks to agricultural machinery giant CLAAS for scholarships awarded to support them in their studies. 

David Thornton, 20, from Maganey, Co Kildare, Ireland, was selected last December as the latest CLAAS scholar and will work for the company during his forthcoming placement year, in addition to receiving scholarship funding of up to £6,000 between now and the completion of his degree. 

He said: “It means a lot to know that people are prepared to invest in a young agricultural engineer like myself, and gives me the motivation to do something similar when I graduate. I cannot thank my sponsors enough. 

“Next academic year, I will be undertaking my placement with CLAAS at their headquarters in Harsewinkel, Germany. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to spend a year abroad, and look forward to working for such a major player in the agricultural machinery sector. 

It’s going to be a great experience, and a chance to work with the machinery which I’ve been fascinated with since I was a child,” added David, former captain of the university GAA and former chairman of the Harper Ireland student society at Harper Adams. 

Yale Brewer, 23, from Wilmington, East Sussex, is a fourth year BEng Agricultural Engineering student and CLAAS scholar, who completed his work placement with the company in 2012/13. 

He said: “I am very grateful to CLAAS for awarding the Scholarship to me. The experience with CLAAS has been excellent, both on placement and now back at º¬Ðß²ÝÉçÇø. 

“I thoroughly enjoyed placement with CLAAS, from the workshop experience, machinery demonstrations and events, to field trials in Germany and Spain.  Back at Harper Adams, I enjoyed sharing my experience with the prospective scholars. I am grateful to CLAAS Selbstfahrende Erntemaschinen, whom are supporting my BEng dissertation in both a technical and financial capacity. 

“I hope to gain a minimum 2:1 in my honours degree so that I can stay on at Harper Adams and complete a Master’s, before moving on to work with CLAAS.”

Having been selected as a CLAAS scholar in his second year, Miles Metcalfe, 23, from North Yorkshire, a fifth year MEng Agricultural Engineering student received an additional year of sponsorship from the company after making a great impression during his time as a placement student and throughout his dissertation research project.

He said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank CLAAS and in particular Jane Broomhall from CLAAS UK for their on-going support both financially and with my dissertation. I feel very privileged to be receiving this scholarship and look forward to the possibility of working for CLAAS in the future. 

“As part of the CLAAS Scholarship, I was offered the opportunity to work my placement year in Germany for the CLAAS Advanced Engineering Department. To gain a better understanding of the CLAAS range of products, I also worked for CLAAS UK during the summer of 2011.

“In the future, post-graduation, I hope to work for CLAAS as a Product Specialist.  I think it will be an advantage, having an in-depth applied engineering knowledge, particularly of the CLAAS products,” added Miles, who collects and restores vintage cars and tractors