Ten groups of high school students prove our national hero was right when he said “The youth is the hope of the motherland,” with their innovative solutions addressing the food-water-energy nexus issues.
The winners in last year’s NXplorers: The Bright Ideas Challenge showcased their problem-solving skills in coming up with answers that protect and maximize the world’s vital resources.
Nxplorers is a global education of Shell, introduced to the Philippines in 2019 to involve the youth in addressing the food-water-energy nexus issues. The systems that provide access to the three critical resources are tightly interlinked—water generates power; energy treats and transports water; and both water and energy are needed to produce food.
“Young people today are vital to ensuring the security of these resources tomorrow,” said Cesar Romero, Shell Companies in the Philippines’ country chairman. “At Shell, we believe that by teaching the youth how to critically identify and solve problems, they will be better equipped as future leaders and positive agents of change.”
The program teaches combination systems thinking, scenario planning, and a theory of change methodology to show the youth how to understand and address increasingly complex global problems.
Oriental Mindoro National High School’s Team NX-US won the grand prize for creating a smart watering system that detects soil moisture content and sends users a text message with crop data.
The first runner-up was Gusa Regional Science High School’s Team Marigold, who designed a handheld generator that produces energy by utilizing heat difference through the Seebeck effect.
Philippine Science High School Cagayan Valley’s Team Agribon took the second runner-up title with their drone that can water and spray crops with fertilizer.
Team NX-US took home P100,000, while Team Marigold and Team Agribon took home P70,000 and P50,000, respectively. Team NX-US also won the people’s choice award, getting an additional P5,000 cash prize.
Meanwhile, Bansud Regional Science High School’s Team Antipara and Ramon Teves Pastor Memorial Dumaguete Science High School’s Team A-Team both won merit awards of P20,000.
The other remaining five schools were awarded P10,000 each
All winning teams received an equivalent prize for their school’s respective STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) funding.
Romero said, “Innovative problem-solving needs a good understanding of how change happens.”
“Shell supports the development of local STEM education because it will help the youth learn the creative and critical thinking skills needed to envision the future.”