Aquinas students recognised for their brilliant Young Innovator Award (yia!) entries were recently chosen to participate in a two-day problem-solving workshop.

Cora and Ivy Barrett-Hodgson (Yr 9 and 10), Lachlan Talbot, Colby Thompson, Francis Markham (all Year 9), Elia Szulakowski, Mia Lowe (both Yr 10) and Nina Young attended the workshop with Design Thinking Coach/Facilitator/Problem-Solver Clare Swallow at the University of Waikato’s Tauranga campus.

She led students through a sprint to iterate solutions to some gnarly local problems… traffic and transport, city appeal for tertiary students, future pathways for youth, and environmental concerns, to name a few.

Putting themselves out there to collaborate with students from other schools and try to continually improve on their ideas took courage and persistence, but the students mainly had heaps of fun.

Nina described it as “a welcoming, encouraging environment that inspired [students] to think differently”. Now in Year 11, Nina has entered yia! each year since Year 7 at AC, frequently scooping up awards along the way.

Asked why she keeps returning to the programme, Nina says, “It’s fun to keep pushing boundaries, think outside the box and come up with solutions to problems.” Plus, she loves spending time doing things creatively.

If you too like to be a creative, innovative problem-solver then give yia! a go this year…

• Anyone can enter, from Year 7 - 13

• You choose the problem you want to solve

• You can choose to work on your own or with friends

• You’ll have support at school via lunchtime tutorials to develop your entry and learn how to use the design thinking process

• There are some pretty awesome prizes and opportunities to get your hands on