In today's world, engineering is everywhere you look, from the humble tin opener, to the new Boeing Dreamliner. My dream is to become an integral part in the building of the future. I am confident that by studying at your University, I will be able to develop the knowledge and skills required so that I can realise my ambition of becoming a Mechanical Engineer.

When I was six years old, my friend and I were obsessed with paper planes. We spent hours testing different designs, trying to find the one that would fly the longest. We found one that was better than all the others but we could never explain why. This was the first time I really started to think about what made things work. The promise of being able to shed some light on this and many of my other unanswered questions is what has driven me to fully immerse myself in the study of science.

I am British but was born in France and have been lucky to have lived and studied overseas for a large part of my life. I speak French fluently, and Spanish to a good level. I also managed to pick up some Japanese whilst living in Tokyo. Throughout my education, Physics and Mathematics have always been my favourite and strongest subjects. When I was fifteen, I came 46th out of nearly 19,000 competitors in the "Concours Kangourou", which is a French national Mathematics competition. The French educational system has given me the opportunity to specialise in the sciences, while still allowing me to study a broad range of other subjects, including Philosophy and Latin.

Last year, as part of my Baccalaureate, a group of friends and I completed a project entitled "Artificial food and its production". We concentrated on meat grown from stem cells, synthetic molecules and genetically modified food production. Although the project was more chemistry and biology orientated the research methods and the processes used to compile the final report could be applied to any form of scientific research. This experience helped me to develop my skills in working as part of a group.

Outside of the classroom I love sport. I swim for Brompton Swimming Club and represented Hammersmith and Fulham at the London Youth Games and The National Arena League in 2011-2012, qualifying with regional times in freestyle and county times in backstroke. More recently I have taken up triathlon and have completed a couple of short distance events. However, rugby is my sporting obsession. I played for Rosslyn Park Rugby Club for five years and now play for Battersea Ironsides Rugby Club and have captained the school team at the Rosslyn Park National Schools Sevens tournament.

As a lover of rugby, last summer, I was fortunate to be offered two weeks work experience at Harlequins Rugby Club. The job entailed me single-handedly building a database and reorganising the club’s entire 150 years of memorabilia. I also helped with the work Harlequins were doing on the club's website. This experience really helped me to develop my organisational skills.

Being part of a family of keen cyclists and triathletes the breakfast time conversation will invariably revolve around the newest design of crank, or the pros and cons of carbon fibre over aluminium. As a keen student of Maths and Physics I understand how challenging it must be to design and then manufacture these components, but it is a challenge that I very much want to undertake. Studying Mechanical Engineering will give me the opportunity to find practical solutions to these and many other questions. I am very dedicated in all aspects of life, and I believe I possess the drive and determination needed to tackle the academic challenges that the future brings.