Ideas for a better future

BALLARAT Grammar year nine students have developed their own socially innovative product and service ideas, with an aim to address issues impacting teenagers.

Last week, small groups pitched their concepts, including mental health support and fitness apps, a substance abuse help site, and an anti-stress fidget pack to a panel of community members.

The panel, including Ballarat Regional Tourism CEO Sarah Myers, provided feedback on the presentations, and linked the pupils to potential contacts and organisations that could help them fully realise their ideas.

Six teams from class 9AM presented separate pitches. Demi and Abbie developed the Priority You, a mental health app.

“This process has helped us develop our public speaking skills and collaboration. The process allowed us to think outside of the box. Even when working from home, we were able to collaborate,” Demi said.

“We had time to plan our presentation and our classmates were supportive and respectful during our presentation.

“Presenting to experts was helpful. They provided us with fresh ideas and helped us consider new community partners with whom we could work. Their feedback will help us produce a more user-friendly product.”

Ballarat Grammar’s pitches were part of the broader Crazy Ideas College initiative, encouraging young people to design their own innovative, changemaking concepts.

“We liked having no restrictions. We were able to be passionate about our teen issue and could go as crazy as we wanted for our solution with the help of Crazy Ideas College,” Abbie said.

“Having a whole day to work through the ideation process allowed us to work at our own pace and make our idea the best it could be.

“As a team, we would like to start small but aim big. Headspace and Ballarat Community Health are the partners we have identified to help us get our… service up and running.”

Teacher Alice Humble said the ideation process was initially coordinated via online learning in lockdown, but her students have been very resilient.

“They used a range of technology to collaborate effectively despite the extra challenges,” she said.

“We were also lucky enough to have Crazy Ideas College staff Kieran and Freya run last week’s sessions on prototyping and developing a ‘smart start experiment’ on site.

“The students had to pull their pitches together in a shorter timeframe, but despite this, they were focused in their preparations and produced engaging and well-structured pitches, which was a relief given their real-world audience.”

Crazy Ideas College co-founder Kieran Murrihy said new grassroots solutions like these can increase young peoples’ hopes for the future.

“We need to create opportunities for young people to showcase their brilliance and lead the conversation about how we make sure more people get to live healthy, connected and fulfilling lives,” he said.

“Lockdowns and disruptions have shown just how incredibly resilient and adaptable our kids are. Now is the time to hear from them about what they want their worlds to look like.”