Year 9 STEM students solving problems for Sunraysia region businesses

We were delighted to have been invited back to facilitate the 3rd annual STEM4Sunraysia youth innovation challenge with SuniTAFE and Northern Mallee Local Learning and Employment Network (NMLLEN).

Each year 50+ year 9 students from across more than 6 secondary schools in and around Mildura come together in teams to ideate and solve a problem from one of a handful of local industry partners. The program culminates with an event where the student teams pitch their ideas to a panel of judges from industry.

This year's industry partners include Mildura Paddle Steamers, Christie Centre Inc, Cooke Industries and the SuniTAFE SmartFarm.

In 2019 the STEM4Sunraysia program was condensed into two days on the SuniTAFE Mildura campus. The world has changed a lot since then and in 2021 the program is a blend of online presentations in-school activities in the lead up to a pitch event in three weeks.

This year's theme is adaptability and the dynamic Rebecca Tapp and Melissa Neighbour from Future Crunch (pictured above left) kicked off proceedings with a very engaging talk and discussion about the #adaptabilityquotient - "the ability, innate or learned, to determine what is relevant, to unlearn obsolete knowledge, and flourish in an environment of fast and frequent change".

The industry problems were filmed and stitched together into short videos by the brilliant Mitchell Barkman.

We wish the challenge teams luck over the coming weeks as they develop their ideas to local real-world problems. They have great support from their teachers and schools as well as industry mentors who have been assigned to each team.

It's a wonderful opportunity for these young #digitalnatives to further develop important soft skills such as teamwork, communication, negotiation, problem solving and critical thinking that will set them up for the future.

Looking forward to sharing updates from the final event on 1 December.