Community & Business
29 June, 2022
Students top Queensland in sustainable challenge
ALTHOUGH an hour inland from the nearest ocean, St Stephen’s Catholic College has come out on top in Queensland for the Sustainable Oceans Student Challenge which was hosted as a part of World Oceans Week.
The school took out first place in Queensland against 253 other participating schools, and came 13th against 1095 other schools nationwide.
Students in Grade 7-10 geography had been learning about protecting the ocean, marine ecosystems, mangroves, the Great Barrier Reef and coral propagation through learning platform Education Perfect prior to the challenge.
Through the online platform, students endured three days of challenges, quizzes and questions surrounding the topic alongside thousands of schools across the country, dominating the scoreboards from day one.
Mentor Dwayne Miller believes it is important to understand the workings of the ocean as it is one of the largest eco-systems in the world.
“Our students acknowledge and understand that positive management of our marine environments can occur throughout the length of river catchments that feed into our coastal environments,” he said.
"Exposure to this type of learning teaches students about ways they can reduce the impact on our local catchments and the Great Barrier Reef.
“Some of the key concepts in our study relate to interconnection, change, sustainability and scale of events within different aspects of our environment - linked to the Catholic Social Teaching of stewardship and caring for our common home.”
With the knowledge of how the ocean works and how it affects the climate and life no matter how inland the school is, students were able to complete the three-day Sustainable Oceans Student Challenge.
