Narrabri Shire Entrepreneurs shine in Illuminate Challenge

Young entrepreneurs in Narrabri and Wee Waa shone during recent Illuminate Challenges, delivered through a valuable collaboration between UNE SMART Region Incubator, Narrabri Shire Council, Illuminate Education Australia, and schools.

On 30 August, primary schools from across Narrabri Shire gathered at Narrabri Public School Hall to participate in the primary ‘Illuminate the Day’ Challenge. Then from 5 to 9 September, students at Wee Waa High School undertook a week-long Illuminate Challenge.

Illuminate invites students to identify problems or needs in their community using a values-based approach, and then provides tools and time to come up with solutions through problem framing, ideation, public speaking workshops, project outlining, and pitching.

Students were tasked with building an idea that would help their community. They reflected on what they valued in their school and community, and then used that foundation to develop solutions to the problems/needs they had identified. Each team was given a hypothetical $5000 to start their idea.

Mentors from the schools, local businesses and others in the community supported the program, and worked alongside Illuminate Education Australia’s Adam Mostogl, who guided students through the process.

Illuminate allows students the opportunity to develop a core set of skills and capabilities - for use in the program, but also for the rest of their lives.

This project was funded by the Australian Government under the Murray-Darling Basin Economic Development Program, as part of UNE SMART Region Incubator’s AgTech Hothouse Project with Narrabri Shire Council.