Students pitch inspired ideas for social issues

STUDENTS from two Armstrong Creek schools are hard at work in a Crazy Ideas College (CIC) program generating solutions to the region’s social problems.

CIC describes itself as believing in young as “inventors, creators and social innovators”, and the Year 9 students participated in CIC’s Social Innovators two-day program.

Working in teams, students are designing programs, products and services that enrich the lives of their fellow citizens.

 

Across the two days, students discovered new insights around issues they care about, generated crazy good ideas, prototyped how these ideas can work in community, developed compelling pitches that inspire action, and presented them to a panel of community partners, which are connected to the program so that teams extend their thinking and great ideas can be acted upon.

The community partners provided feedback to teams as they developed their ideas and connecting teams with the right people and resources so their ideas can be brought to life.

Real estate developer ID_Land supported the program last year as well as this year, which has enabled different schools to participate in the program each term at the Geelong Tech School.

Key themes the ideas are addressing included finding to ways to promote care for the environment, enhance health and wellbeing, foster community connectedness, and re-imagining learning.

Students from Geelong High School, Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary College and Northern Bay College took part in the Social Innovators program in March, pitching ideas such as a sanitary product box for those who lack access to period products, an app for young people to discover and research different worldwide issues, and mirrors embedded with positive affirmations to increase body confidence.

“It’s really important we’re equipping young people with the skills and connections to thrive post school, and that community and business partners play a key role in doing that,” CIC’s Zoe Burrows said.

All ideas will be showcased on CICBeyond, an online platform designed specifically to share, celebrate, and connect these ideas with community.Once they have developed their ideas, students pitch them to a community panel.

Crazy Ideas College run the program for schools across Australia.