Nadia H Sabry
winner of the 1997
Society of Plastics Engineers’
International Wonders of Plastics
Essay Contest
Judy E. Grimson, P.Eng.,
President SPE Ontario Section (96-98)
The Ontario Section of the Society of Plastics Engineers is pleased to announce that Nadia Hesham Sabry has won 1997’s Society of Plastics Engineers International Wonders of Plastics Essay Contest. Nadia, an OAC student at Preston High School in Cambridge, Ontario has won $1000 US, plus an additional $1,000 US for her school. Her winning essay, entitled: Plastic-It’s All Around Us will be published in Plastics Engineering, SPE’s official publication which is read by approximately 40,000 plastics professionals around the world.
This is the first year that the contest has been run in Ontario. The contest began five years ago in memory of Jonathan Bindman, a past president of SPE’s New York Section. Open to all high school students, the 500-1,000 word essay must be sponsored by a teacher and must focus on the benefits of plastics. There is no way of knowing how many essays were actually written.
Only the best essay from each school was submitted to SPE for judging. Of the eight essays received by the Ontario Section, Nadia’s essay was chosen as the local winner.
Her essay was sent to compete with winning essays from 30 other sections. Again it was chosen as the best essay submitted at the SPE International level.
The Society of Plastics Engineers is a non-profit international organization dedicated to promoting the scientific and engineering knowledge relating to plastics.
All members are associated with the plastics industry in some way, whether in manufacturing of raw materials, processing, packaging, design of plastic products, mold making, research, or sales and marketing. The 1,000 members of the Ontario Section reside and work in Ontario, and are involved with either injection molding or extrusion processes. Worldwide, there are 92 Sections and 21 Divisions, which focus on the development of knowledge in one particular segment of the plastics industry. SPE members choose to belong to the Division most closely related to their occupation.
In the past, it was thought that plastics are harmful to the environment, and are depleting our oil reserves .. in fact, plastics require less energy to manufacture, are made from by-products of the petroleum industry and are almost completely recyclable. Plastic is truly the material of the future!