Good Shepherd Lutheran College successfully continues to encourage innovative thinking resulting in the college celebrating another successful year at the Gen[in] Challenge with Year 11 student Mille Toy winning the Community Entrepreneurship prize.
The Gen[in] Challenge aims to shape Queensland’s Young Entrepreneurs by encouraging students aged 15-18 years to identify a problem to solve in their local community and then develop an innovative solution to action.
Benefitting from the hands-on experience gained to develop entrepreneurial skills in how to ideate, collaborate, plan, network and pitch, Millie Toy of Good Shepherd Lutheran College was one of 10 teams to make it through to the finals.
The competition was held at the University of Queensland’s Ventures Lab with nearly 100 students entering the Challenge this year.
Good Shepherd career counsellor Natasha Purcell said, “Coming together with other finalists to learn as a community of like-minded Queensland students was an amazing opportunity.“
“It allowed the young innovators to be supported by mentors from various backgrounds who work across a wide range of industries.
“Students then had a day to finetune their business plans, in preparation to deliver a live pitch to a panel of judges on the final day.
“All participants should be congratulated on delivering such high-quality ideas and campaigns.”
Gen[in] Community Entrepreneurship prize winner Millie Toy said, “The experience was amazing. It was really inspiring to see all the other great ideas out there and also work with some awesome mentors.“
“I signed up for the challenge because I’ve always liked problem-solving and creating.
“I hope to take my idea to the next level and turn it into a large business, implementing my product first in Australia and then hope to go global.
“My invention, Bin Buddy is an interactive waste management product to encourage appropriate disposal of plastic bottles using a smiley face as positive reinforcement when bottles are placed into containers for change bins. The product clips onto the side of any bin, it is rectangular and relatively small.”
Millie hopes to see her protype tested at Good Shepherd and Peregian Springs State School and then roll it out across further Coast schools and eventually throughout Queensland local government areas.
The $4000 prize money will help Mille take her innovative idea to action.
Millie is also working closely with the Noosa Environmental Education Hub who are keen to support her endeavour and see it rolled out across Noosa.
Mrs Purcell continues, “As our second year in entering the competition, it has been wonderful to witness the focused dedication of our Good Shepherd students over the learning journey of the challenge each year, to see their creative ideas come to life.“
“The opportunity for students to network with and be mentored by other young but more experienced entrepreneurs makes such a difference to their final pitches.
“Students learn so much in such a short space of time and grow in their confidence resulting in delivering high quality pitches.
“I was thrilled that Millie’s innovation captured the attention of the judges, winning her first place and the prize money to turn her idea into a reality across our Shire.”
With a share of $15,000 up for grabs in prize money and further mentoring opportunities following the challenge, students have every opportunity to see their innovative ideas come to fruition to make a local impact.
Gen[in] is fully funded by Trade and Investment Queensland (TIQ) and was developed by a consortium led by The University of Queensland and supported by education providers, industry professionals and government partners.
