Two innovative Year 6 students in the Primary School at Matthew Flinders Anglican College are the Runner-Up winners of the Future Anything National Grand Finals for 202
The Grand Final was the culmination of Future Anything’s Activate program to develop innovative, scalable, and sustainable solutions to problems they care about. All Year 6 students at Flinders participated in as part of their Term 3 curriculum.
The winners were unveiled to a live audience of over 250 guests at the pitch finals event in Brisbane. Hundreds more watched online.
In winning second place, Matthew Flinders students Jesse Busse and Jack Fairgrieve were the first-ever Primary team to pitch at the National Finals. They were competing against students in Years 8-10.
A Safe Surf Prototype
Jess and Jack were applauded for their ‘Safe Surf’ prototype. This idea was an innovative inflatable rash vest and a GPS wristband that boosts surfer and swimmer safety at the beach.
Announcing their win, judge Alana Kennedy, Founder and CEO of Ochre Sun, said, “It was a very tough decision. We chose Safe Surf as the Grand Final Runner-Up because we really want great ambassadors coming out of our country, and we feel this team will become great ambassadors globally. We see promise in this business.”
Flinders was the only Primary School to have progressed to both the Pitch Finals and the Showcase Finals of the Activate program.
The organisers
Future Anything was founded by Nicole Dyson and aims to “unleash students’ passion, potential and agency in every classroom”.
The event was sponsored by the Queensland Government through the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI).
Matthew Flinders students at the Future Anything National Finals
Future Anything Activate Program at Matthew Flinders
Head of Primary, Mrs Trudi Edwards said the Year 6 cohort should be proud of their collective efforts. And of their creativity and courage in participating in Future Anything’s Activate Program.
“For the second year in a row, all of our Year 6 students have embraced the opportunity to solve real world issues that are meaningful to them personally and will help to make the world a better place,” Mrs Edwards said.
“It is wonderfully rewarding for our teaching team to support the students through the Activate journey,” she said.
Alongside Jesse and Jack at the Grand Finals were their Year 6 peers across three teams. They also presented diverse and impactful projects at the Showcase Finals:
- Zara Russell, Willow Cox and Asher Kurtz presented their project, The Coral Cuties;
- Lawson Wiltshire and Callan Barker presented The Contaminated Canals; and
- Leila Spottiswood presented her Stress Less project.
- Also, Isabel Watters successfully progressed to the semi-finals with her Screen Time Browser prototype.
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