How These Teenagers are Making a Difference After Winning a National STEM Comp

From winning big, to doing big things 🏅

This article is presented in partnership with Samsung Solve for Tomorrow.

Turning Christmas trees into wrapping paper and helping farmers gather information on local pests are just some of the ideas from the winners and runners-up of Solve for Tomorrow 2023.

And although it’s only been six months, some of our winners have already taken their learnings with them to try and develop their idea and become better students.

If you’re thinking about entering the Solve for Tomorrow 2025 comp (so you can potentially win $10,000), we’ve gathered inspo from our past winners on why you should enter.

It’s changed the way they look at their future 💫

The grand prize winners of Solve for Tomorrow 2023, aka Team ORS, won for their idea Project Panopticon. This idea utilised UV lights to attract pests to record their patterns so farmers can be more conscious of their use of pesticide, environmentally and economically.

Their entry really stood out because the team chose to design and build a prototype through 3D printing. In the ideation process, they even took it to a swamp to test it.

The process of building a prototype was something that Team ORS member, Michael Nefiodovas, really enjoyed.

“You get to learn new skills, so I know for us we specifically chose to make new technologies to try out so we could learn,” Michael said.

“This has seriously made me consider a product-driven career, like actually building things in real life.

“I know a lot of people in math often end up in a research career or finance, but it’s really cool to actually make stuff for other people.”

Learning how to overcome roadblocks.

For students Flynn, Mikey and George, coming up with an idea and working through roadblocks from start to finish is what really challenged them.

Winning the Minor Prize in the 14–18-year-old category, the group came up with Sustainabili-tree. The idea involves picking up Christmas trees after the holiday season and taking them to recycling plants to turn them into sustainable gift wrapping for the community.

One thing the team noted was the way they were able to build on their initial idea the more they worked on their entry

“We had the initial idea together but found that once we started to create our team’s video, we identified even more opportunities to flesh out Sustainabili-tree and make it better.” Flynn said

When asked about his advice for 2024 Solve for Tomorrow participants, he shared,

"It can be daunting but keep at your entry because ideas will come to you as you work together. Keep moving forward and stay focused on creating the best entry you can.”

They have a chance to further their project in the real world.

Not only have some of these winners come up with life-changing ideas, but some of them have also been working to make their ideas a reality.

Flynn, Mikey and George have been developing their idea and are even trying to secure a grant.

“We’ve contacted GrantEd, so we’ve worked with them for a bit,” Flynn said.

They are hoping to secure a grant from Sustainability Victoria to further Sustainabili-tree.

But a lack of grant hasn’t stopped them from developing and refining their idea. Flynn said they’ve been talking about where they can sell their wrapping paper and how to further market the idea.

So, if you want to get some of your mates together and work on bringing an idea you’ve had to life, now is your chance.

Find out how to enter Solve for Tomorrow, get your submission in here, and you could be in the running to win a grand prize of $10,000.

Terms and Conditions of entry apply.