The awards ceremony for the third ‘wasSAARstoff’ student competition on 17 June saw State Secretary of Education Jessica Heide honour various Saarland students for their climate-friendly ideas. The Saarland Hydrogen Agency H2Saar had invited children and young people from all school types to take a creative look at the opportunities of a climate-friendly future. As well as the awards themselves, prize money totalling €2,000 was also handed out.
Climate-friendly ideas from young Saarland talent
The competition highlighted the fact that even primary school children were engaging with hydrogen as a technology of the future and able to develop creative concepts for shaping their environment with lasting effect. Some of these were very successful:
First place was shared by Galileo-Schule FGTS and Grundschule Bexbach. Second place went to the ‘carbon-free city heroes’ project from Ludweiler, with third place taken by Grundschule Hohe Wacht in Saarbrücken.
The Saarland Hydrogen Agency launched its campaign in February under the title of ‘wasSAARstoff’ competitions for primary and secondary school students.
The tasks set:
Primary school students were asked to develop ideas for how to use hydrogen to make their environment more environmentally friendly and reduce carbon emissions. They showcased their concepts in the form of a poster and a brief presentation of their conclusions.
Students at secondary schools were tasked with designing and creating a digital scavenger hunt using the app ‘Actionbound’. This required them to present hydrogen-related content in a creative, interactive way.
Willi-Graf-Gymnasium Saarbrücken, Technisch-Wissenschaftliche Gymnasium Dillingen and Von der Leyen-Gymnasium Blieskastel all qualified for the final. At the awards ceremony, the three groups presented their contributions to a judging panel who then decided on the final placings.
The panel ultimately opted to award two first places. These went to Von der Leyen-Gymnasium and Willi-Graf-Gymnasium, whilst Technisch-Wissenschaftliche Gymnasium Dillingen were given third place.
The students’ projects impressively demonstrated how complex future issues could be communicated in a creative, clear and practical way.
Bringing an abstract topic to life
The aim was for children and young people to showcase the topic of ‘hydrogen in Saarland’ in a fun way, in order to bring this ‘abstract topic’ to life. Berlin-based initiative ‘Jugend präsentiert e.V.’ was also included in the competition via the focus on presentations.
The competition combines school education with current questions about the future and allows young people to truly understand hydrogen’s role as a key cornerstone of the energy revolution. It also reinforces STEM education and promotes skills such as teamwork, problem solving, creativity and presentation techniques.
H2Saar CEO Dr. Bettina Hübschen: ‘It is absolutely fascinating to see how much creativity and depth Saarland’s students employed in tackling the topic of hydrogen. H2Saar would like to heartily congratulate all of the winners – you have all inspired us today!’
H2Saar
The Saarland Hydrogen Agency helps citizens and companies to identify and implement the positive effects of sustainable hydrogen technologies. The aim is to promote structural change in Saarland and thus create a future for all generations to come.
Photo: Carsten Simon Photography
