Last year our Enviroschools Group entered the Zayed Sustainability Prize. This arose from a desire to get kinetic energy tiles and solar panels at our school and from the opportunity to develop wind and solar energy at our new Classroom by the Sea.

Over three months from February to April we put together a 40 page comprehensive application outlining how we could form a Sustainability Research Hub, drawing down expertise from Otago University and Otago Polytechnic to combine with the considerable passion and knowledge around sustainability and energy in our school programmes and teaching staff already. Our idea was to then share these sustainability projects with our intermediate and primary schools, becoming leaders in recycling practices, sustainable food production, urban biodiversity and sustainable design.

After several months, we received an email saying that we were chosen as finalists for the Prize and that we were invited to the Zayed Sustainability Prize Awards in Abu Dhabi and in January we travelled to the United Arab Emirates for eight days as finalists in the awards.

Early on the first morning we were up and out to meet our hosts and whisked off to a media session where we were photographed and did video interviews with journalists and social media teams. We then enjoyed some free time at the Heritage Village, looking at traditional arts and crafts, meeting a camel and dressing in traditional gold-embossed robes.

In the afternoon we were hosted by the New Zealand Ambassador to Abu Dhabi, Matthew Hawkins and policy writer Nadine, at the New Zealand Embassy. This was an amazing experience to hear about trade and relationships between the UAE and New Zealand and to experience a piece of New Zealand right in the heart of Abu Dhabi.

This was followed by a full media briefing with all of the Zayed Sustainabilty Prize finalists where we learned important tips and tricks for dealing with media interviews and social media teams. We then went to a rehearsal for the awards ceremony at the very impressive Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, which was hosting Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, the Zayed Sustainability Prize Awards and the World Future Energy Summit.

The Prize Awards were simply phenomenal with an audience of 3500 people and the presence not only of the Crown Prince and many other government officials, but also 12 Prime Ministers from around the world. We didn’t win the East Asia and Pacific Global High Schools section we were in but we were delighted that Eutan Tarawa Ieta Junior Secondary School in Kiribati did with their project to grow healthy food to combat their diabetes epidemic.

A fabulous networking lunch and gala dinner at the Emirates Palace was to follow. It was an amazing global event and we were sure to step beyond our comfort zone and talk and learn from as many people as we could. It was very inspiring to hear of all the business and high school projects, both past and present.

The next day we attended the World Energy Summit where we spent time at the Future Cities Forum and the Youth 4 Sustainability Hub. The Crown Prince dropped by and rapper AKON also spoke about his AKON Solar Lighting Project in Africa. The day was full of inspiring discussion and a mega-showcase of every emerging sustainable technology from across the world. We were particularly amazed by Virgin Airlines Hyperloop One which is a vacuum tunnel train, linking cites at a speed of 1000km/ hour, but also by low water-use agricultural innovations, new age electric vehicles and planes and solar power poles. The scale of the showcase was unbelievable, perhaps the size of six Dunedin stadiums. We were impressed by the great emphasis on young people, women and education. It was also new to us to have business and finance models for every innovation on show, meaning that progress is fast and financially sustainable.

In the afternoon we were hosted in The Hive Collaborative Space and heard from all of last year’s Global High Schools winners with amazing and inspiring stories from Guatemala, Northern India, South Africa, the Phillipines, Tajikistan and more. What these groups had achieved was truly remarkable.

After a day sightseeing at Warner Bros Theme Park and the Grand Mosque, we then spent the following day at Masdar Sustainable City in the desert. The whole city is cooled by a giant wind tunnel that funnels hot air downward to cool the city and it was a leafy oasis. Energy is totally renewable in the city and there are driverless cars and buses – which we got to experience! They went fast and very smoothly. We also saw the University of Artificial Intelligence and many art installations focusing on the impacts of technology.

On the final afternoon we visited Qasr Al Watan, the Presidential Palace where important summits and meetings are held. It was a showpiece of mathematical architecture, incorporating all elements of ancient and contemporary Middle Eastern design and beauty in its great domes, conference rooms and meeting areas. It also celebrated 2019 as the Year of Tolerance which was especially poignant for us as visitors from New Zealand.

Our final evening finished with a group visit to the Founder’s Memorial, a memorial to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the first President of the United Arab Emirates and the inspiration behind the Zayed Sustainability Prize. The memorial is entitled The Constellation and is a collection of 1,327 geometric shapes suspended on 1,110 cables, which combine to form a three dimensional portrait of Zayed. Designed by artist Ralph Helmick, The Constellation's suspended shapes consist of five different types of regular, convex polyhedrons known as 'platonic solids'. It is lit at night and the whole structure is surrounded by an elevated walkway. This was a special end to our amazing journey in Abu Dhabi.

Grateful thanks goes to our wonderful hosts Michael, Miriam, Yordi and Faisal and to the organisers of the Prize for giving us this wonderful opportunity. Thanks also to the amazing group of other high school students and teachers from across the world that we met and travelled with. The inspiration gained on this trip will be of great benefit for years to come.

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