5 May 2023

Year 7 students at St Monica’s College, Epping, have taken on the world in the Global Innovator of the Year competition.

Two groups of students from the college competed in the TCS goIT national competition, an event that challenges students to identify a problem related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Both teams won their section of the Australian challenge before competing in the global final.

Year 7 students Ethan Ajeesh and Gurmaan Singh showcased Food Support, a social enterprise app for sharing food, preventing food waste in industry and purchasing food packages for people experiencing food insecurity. Year 7 students Neev Chhokar, Lucas Huynh, Zeke Rabuya and Aron Tyrone-Dumesic showcased their app, Waterverse, which encourages social cleaning of waterways and ways of preventing water pollution.

Ethan and Gurmaan placed second in the event, receiving an honourable mention. Almost 40,000 students worldwide competed in this challenge, with only 76 making it through to the final.

‘What an amazing achievement by our students to be successful at this international level’, said Principal Brian Hanley. ‘Their work is recognised as being world standard and we applaud their wonderful result. Our college continues to be committed to STEM studies, demonstrated by the opening of our new STEM building on Dalton Road Campus. Congratulations to all of our students involved in this international event.’