iServi News | 10 December 2021 | Term 4, Week 9
On Wednesday 8 December, the Year 8 and 9 iCurious GATE students attended a Hackathon event at Perth Town Hall, hosted by Just Start It in collaboration with St Vincent De Paul Society, known as Vinnies. Our students were amongst a number of other schools, who were all presented with the two major challenges face by Vinnies at the moment: a decrease in the quality of donated clothes and a lack of young volunteers being recruited.
The students worked in groups to tackle one of these problems and pitched a solution back to Vinnies at the end of the day. Some of the solutions included the use of influencers on social media, collaboration with fashion students in training who are looking for work experience and the development of a ‘yes/no’ infographic advising people about what they can/can’t donate.
Most notable, however, was the suggestion of a collaboration between cleaning companies that help hoarders clear their homes, so that instead of clothing items getting thrown away, they get donated to Vinnies instead. This solution, proposed by Year 8 students Ashley Aniban (SA4), Lawrence Li (SC5), Sophia Song (SE1) and Marian Vales (OLS7), took out joint first place for the day! Well done to all students on their efforts and a huge congratulations to the winning Year 8s.
Ms Krystal Skelin
Director of Research, Innovation and Enterprise
