Pitch for Purpose program an environmental success

A novel idea at the District 9685 Conference captured the imagination of hundreds of school children and left their parents and teachers wanting more.

District 9685 Governor Niranjan Deodhar imagined a conference based on sustainability and wanted to involve students and their families in an impactful way.

Pitch For Purpose provided students across Greater Sydney with a platform to find innovative solutions that address environmental issues of concern to students. More than 260 students from 53 schools took part in the program, developing ideas to reduce plastic pollution, create sustainable food systems, conserve water resources, improve air quality, develop waste-to energy solutions and design eco-friendly systems.

Pitch for Purpose aims to develop stewardship, citizenship and problem-solving skills among young people, with a focus on tackling environmental issues,” said Niranjan. “In its first year, it has proven to be a remarkable success with fantastic feedback from students, teachers, schools and parents.

Congratulations to all the participants. We look forward to offering our Pitch for Purpose program to schools on a regular basis.”

Judged by two of Australia’s scientific leaders, Dr Alan Finkel AC and Professor Veena Sahajwalla AO, who both spoke at the conference, and Rotary International Director Elect Jennifer Scott AM, the competition highlighted the capability of our students.

They described them as “brave and bold ideas”.

Designs included a filtration system that could be added to stormwater pipes to stop pollution entering rivers and an improved shark net that would be less harmful for marine life.

What an amazing opportunity for the students but also the Rotary members to see the fascinating minds of our young leaders,” said Dr Finkel, former Chief Scientist of Australia.

“We saw so many excellent projects. They were really impressive efforts and showed their uninhibited thoughts.”

Professor Sahajwalla, founder and director of UNSW SMaRT Centre, said we should feel comforted that the world is in safe hands.

“We saw the thought process of approaching a problem, arriving at a solution and how they will deliver it.

I’m blown away at how mature they are in the way they explain it and their intelligent responses to questions.

The criteria meant they demonstrated their idea, then discussed their concept, practicalities, timeliness, teamwork and communication.

Professor Sahajwalla has offered 3D printing facilities to Pitch for Purpose finalists who would like to build prototypes of their solutions. These 3D printers use recycled plastic as printer feedstock.

Rotary is looking at holding more Pitch for Purpose challenges. For more information, contact Richard Vahtrick via rvahtrick@gmail.com or Marilyn Kenney via ckenney@bigpond.net.au.