Jamaica, Guyana, and Trinidad & Tobago earned top honours at the recently concluded 2024-25 Young Environmental Scientists (YES) Competition, which celebrates the ingenuity of students across the region in tackling sustainability challenges.
The winners of the competition were announced in a release from Macmillan Education Caribbean, which explained that the competition encouraged young minds to develop practical solutions that address environmental issues within their communities, inspired by Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
The release noted that this year’s competition saw strong participation from schools across the Caribbean. with students from Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, and Guyana earning top honours.
The Primary category, which challenged students to create a useful object from waste materials, saw TML Super Planters from TML Primary School, Trinidad & Tobago, take first place with their self-watering planter made from repurposed wood, plastic bottles, a hose, and a bucket to grow Chocolate Mint. Meanwhile, Anchovy Innovators from Anchovy Primary, Jamaica, secured second place with a flood debris collection device, designed using an old fan cover, mesh, and wheels.
In the Secondary category, students were tasked with designing and testing an idea for a sustainable town. Environmental Guardians from Queen’s College, Guyana won first place with a lampshade model that illuminates roads without contributing to light pollution which can affect bats and surrounding ecosystems. Ravens Builders from St Jago High School, Jamaica, placed second with their experiment exploring the potential of recycled CDs and DVDs to generate solar energy as an alternative power source.
According to the release, the YES Competition which is now in its second year, continues to foster a culture of innovation and environmental awareness among young Caribbean students. Last year’s winners from Trinidad & Tobago set the bar high with their sustainable solutions, and this year’s entries have further demonstrated the region’s potential for driving environmental change through youth-led initiatives.
One of the competition judges, Dr Aldrin E Sweeney, of Barbados, praised the participants for their inventive approach to problem-solving, the release said. “I was quite impressed with the ingenuity and creativity of many of these projects. Several of the projects could well be extended into prototypes for serious consideration by various countries in the Caribbean,” he was quoted as saying.
Macmillan Education Caribbean said it will share a video showcasing highlights from the competition, including footage of the winning projects, on its website and social media platforms. In the coming months, the winning teams will be presented with their prizes, which include educational equipment for their schools and an interactive workshop for their class, aimed at furthering their knowledge and passion for sustainability, the release added.
