This past week, several teams of teachers and students from across the Independent Schools Association of British Columbia came together with a collective passion to address climate change.
The challenge posed to them was, “How might we leverage technology to help solve climate change within our local community?”
Prior to the event, teams were tasked with identifying and learning about a focused, meaningful issue related to climate change that each of them felt strongly about addressing.
Before arriving at the event day, teams armed themselves with information about their chosen issue and came having spoken to real people about their topic. Each team spent time understanding and building empathy for their challenge in hopes of creating the best possible solution to address the issues that truly contribute to the issue.
Teams addressed topics such as reducing water consumption, rising emissions, the impacts of extreme weather and many more vital issues facing our communities.
Over the course of the high energy event, Future Prize teams leveraged the design process to generate ideas to solve their problem, validate these ideas through feedback and iteration and consider the steps required to take action.
“I can’t believe what we have come up with! I am so excited about our idea and it can really have an impact. I can’t wait to share it with others!” said one middle school student.
The critical thinking, empathy, resourcefulness and collaboration demonstrated by every team was extraordinary. Team members challenged each other with difficult questions and actively sought out opportunities to push themselves and each other. Participants came together not only to support their own teams, but genuinely celebrated the successes of the other Future Prize teams as well. It was a day of true sportsmanship and camaraderie around a common goal!
The day culminated with teams pitching their ideas to a panel of expert judges including directors and program leads from Apple Canada, Active Impact Investments, and South Surrey & White Rock Chamber of Commerce. Our final four teams from Brentwood College School, St. Michaels University School, Kenneth Gordon Maplewood School and Southridge School pitched in the final round of competition.
The Water Benders from KGMS took home the trophy at ISABC Future Prize 2020!
Kenneth Gordon Maplewood School ultimately took home the ISABC Future Prize 2020 trophy for their Water Benders idea. This team leveraged the idea behind smart home technology to help households reduce their water consumption with simple and easy to use features that connect to devices in your home and allow you to set time constraints on showers, track usage and set and measure household water goals.
Congratulations to all of our participating teams for your enthusiasm, passion and the incredible ideas you generated and shared! We are inspired by your leadership and ambition and are so excited for the future you are building and the stewardship upon which your ideas are born.
Thank you to our incredible partners at ISABC and Southridge School for organizing this event and to hosting our teams!
Future Prize is a renowned competition that empowers students to get involved and become stewards within their own communities, enables them to showcase their ideas on a public stage and celebrates the real world impact that youth can have to make meaningful change! Future Design School partners with regional organizations to bring the competition to new groups of students and we are always thrilled to hear from those interested in bringing the event to their area.
Interested in more Future Design School student programming? Consider our Future Skills Retreats. Immerse students in a fun, transformative and memorable experience that engages students in deep competency development and self reflection. We can also support teachers through professional development to enhance experiential community connected learning and IB programs!