Three students from St Luke’s Anglican School have been invited to the Kennedy Space Centre in the United States after winning the Australian Conrad Spirit of Innovation Challenge.
Mercedes Thomas, Tessa Bryden and Nawshaba Ahmed — as Team Melior Terra — won Best Innovation for CLEARN, a scanning system that tells people what can and can’t be recycled and rewards them for checking.
It's the same concept that saw the team take out the Mayor's Telstra Innovation Award earlier this year.
Melior Terra was one of four teams from St Luke’s Anglican School invited to compete in the Australian finals of the entrepreneurial STEM event.
Students headed for innovation summit at Kennedy Space Centre
St Luke’s Anglican School’s Head of Learning and Innovation, Matthew Hughes said Melior Terra’s win qualified them for round three.
“The four-day Conrad Innovation Summit will be held at the Kennedy Space Centre from April 21 next year,” Mr Hughes said.
“Students from around the world present their innovations to a panel of expert judges and are given on-the-spot feedback.
“There are opportunities to win scholarships and internships, patent support and business assistance to grow their concepts.
“The team is excited and looking forward to gathering with like-minded peers at the American Summit.
“The amazing amount of learning that is evident throughout the Conrad Challenge is cause enough for our school to be involved, but taking out the top prize is icing on the cake.”
Mr Hughes congratulated all the St Luke’s students who entered the innovation challenge.
“There were around twenty competing teams in the Australian finals, four of which were from St Luke’s.
St Luke's high achievement in Innovation Challenge
St Luke’s Anglican School students represented 20 per cent of all finalists across Australia, that is an outstanding for any School.
KYOOR and Eco-Moo received very high praise for their booths and pitches, and were among the best on the day, but
unfortunately didn’t make it through to the next round,” he said.
“Planet Pipeline and Melior Terra both made it to the Power Pitch round. It was incredibly close but Melior Terra took home the first-place position.”
Mr Hughes said it was the second win for Melior Terra, who also took out first place in the Mayor’s Telstra Innovation Awards earlier this year.
“The mentoring and experience available through the Mayor’s Telstra Innovation Awards certainly helped them refine their ideas ahead of the Conrad Challenge,” he said.
Team Melior Terra will visit the Kennedy Space Centre next year.
- Earlier news: Team Melior Terra wins Mayor’s Telstra Innovation Awards
