Ideas2Life Lab Incursion

Details: Published: 13 August 2024

Late last term, Crazy Ideas College hosted an Ideas2Life Lab with a number of Year 9 students. Following on from the Term 1 Shepparton Social Innovators program, the teams came together in an action-packed workshop with three community partners from the Shepparton community.

We were extremely lucky to have Katie Taylor from La Trobe University, Julia Hollands from the Greater Shepparton Foundation, and Leigh Johnson from Shepparton Police offer their expertise and support to the students for bringing an idea to life.

The teams participated in a high energy challenge, with the goal to ‘make the tallest marshmallow.' While this task was very different from the ideas the teams will be bringing to life, the process involved some very transferrable lessons.

By creating an annotated sketch of their idea, identifying the specific resources that could be used, and mapping how to acquire resources, the teams were equipped with valuable skills around project planning.

From here, the teams designed an eye-catching Instagram carousel to promote their model, practiced approaching community partners with their idea proposal, and negotiated deals that were beneficial for both parties.

The teams were unbelievably resourceful during a super speedy prototype build using classroom items, paper cups, string, paper straws, pipe-cleaners and masking tape as they put their time management and communication skills put to the test.

A quick debrief between the community partners and teams heard reflections around the most effective strategies to get partners excited about an idea, how to communicate professionally, and the importance in planning before jumping into action.

This provided an easy transition for the teams to focus on their smart start experiments, transferring the skills and knowledge from the marshmallow challenge to their idea for the Shepparton community. The community partners could provide valuable expertise to support the teams in their planning and resource preparation phases, and connections beyond the school gate to help support these ideas.

All teams left equipped with new skills and capabilities for bringing an idea to life, as well as connections to reach out to over the coming weeks as the young people of Shepparton work to improve the lives of their fellow citizens!

This program was proudly enabled by the Greater Shepparton City Council, The Greater Shepparton Foundation, La Trobe University, and Brophy Youth & Family Services.

Ideas Lab 1

Ideas Lab 3 Ideas Lab 4

Ideas Lab 5 Ideas Lab 6

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