High school students in Waterloo region are working to solve problems both big and small by pitching their ideas for future funding.
Around 700 students across the Waterloo Region District School Board took part in a semester-long project to create real-world solutions to problems at school or in their community.
“Sometimes we don't give students enough credit. They really know what's going on in their community,” said Carli Parsons, vice-principal of Southwood Secondary School in Cambridge.
Five schools and 100 students were represented on Monday at the Ken Seiling Museum in Kitchener as they pitched their ideas to a room full of onlookers.
“We see better engagement, better representation of student's passions in their work and the projects are amazing,” said Parsons.
The Southwood Secondary Period Fairies were funded last year for an initiative to create menstrual care kits to address period poverty among their school population.
The group was funded and is working to build and distribute the kits.
“I text them, 'oh my god guys, we got the money, we're going to be able to take this further, we're going to be able to make the change that we worked so hard to do,’” said Sarah Farrell, a Grade 12 student at Southwood Secondary School. “Honestly, I think my heart stopped when I saw that email.”
Period Fairies member Olivia Pond, a Grade 12 student at Southwood Secondary School said: “We actually do this outside of school time, we do it all on our personal time, but we have no problem doing that because we're so passionate about it.”
“It's really nerve-wracking getting up here with just an idea, but we started with just an idea, and now it's so much more,” said Pond.
The program is bankrolled by the Smart Waterloo Region Innovation Lab, looking to harness youthful ingenuity.
“The statistics show that youth are better innovators than we are as adults, so finding ways to get them in, seeing them take on and talk about problems for us seem as insurmountable, but they come with these creative, small solutions,” said Jahmeeks Beckford, play lead With Smart Waterloo Region Innovation Lab.
Beckford added: “We had to have a place where youth and children could actually interact and make change around their community, so we thought the concept of an innovation lab -- innovation labs are big in the business world.”
Grade 10 student Afham Adem is putting film in focus, pitching a collaborative minority youth film project.
“I have the confidence to chase my dream, but I noticed a lot of my peers don't. So I just wanted to help my peers out,” said Adem.
A grant for Adem could mean lights, camera, action.
“I'm not a very good public speaker, but it all just came to me. I didn't even have to look at my script,” said Adem.
The winner will be announced in the near future, with the amount of funding received determined by the overall funding needs of the project.
