Teams from Australian Christian College Southlands claim top prizes in Illuminate Next-Generation Challenge

Two teams from Australian Christian College Southlands have taken home top prizes in this year’s Illuminate Next-Generation Challenge.

Featuring schools from across WA, the Next-Generation Challenge is run by Chartered Accountants Australia in association with Murdoch University.

With the challenge running over a week, teams of Year 9 and 10 students from ACC were presented with a community problem to solve, testing their resolve, communication and technical skills.

Team six took home top prize for best business case and financial tables, while team four topped the Best Pressure Cooker category.

“Team six designed an app that uses augmented reality to help customers with closing purchases,” ACC Southlands head of secondary school Jade Baker said.

“So if somebody was online shopping and found an outfit they liked then they would be able to use the app and the camera on their phone to envisage the clothing on them. Students from team four were given an unexpected business problem where a staff member in their business had done something wrong and they had to come up with a strategy for how to deal with that.”

The event was held virtually.

Ms Baker said the new format helped regional schools participate, allowing students to think creatively and apply their learning.

“They’ve only just started running it as a virtual event after COVID and it just allows so many more regional schools to participate,” she said.