Summary of the “7 Weeks of Green Creativity“ contest, revealing the “sprouts” of the creative garden
To encourage social creativity, increase students' skills, and contribute to environmental awareness among UEF-ers, the Service-Learning Leader Network with the support from the UEF Centre of Service-Learning (CSL) organised the contest “7 WEEKS OF GREEN CREATIVITY”. The contest is sponsored by General Trading Production Company Limited II, which specialises in the production of biodegradable packaging. The first contest was held at UEF with the form of idea selection, training on Design Thinking methods, and then reinventing the idea for the final round. This was also a session to test solutions and collect comments from stakeholders.
After three training sessions on the Design Thinking methods and three incubation stages “Sowing seeds, Nurturing seeds, Sprouting and developing”, on the afternoon of April 8, 2022, the closing session of the “7 WEEKS OF GREEN CREATIVITY” contest took place at the lobby on the 15th floor of UEF campus 141 with the presence of the best ideas.
The closing ceremony transpired with the participation of five teams: NO NAME, 3R, PEOR, GREEN PLASTIC, and CIRCLE GREEN. The teams had a maximum of 3 minutes to present their ideas to the judges and UEF-ers. The professional judges include Ms Phan Thi Thuy Phuong - Director of Phuong Lan Environmental Friendly Packing Import Export Trading Production Company Limited, Ms Dinh Nguyen Thien An - Director of UEF CSL, Mr Pham Thanh Tri - Founder of the Ecofish organisation. Most especially, the judges with the presence of UEF students simulated a sample test session and gave feedback for ideas according to the method of the Design Thinking model—a creative method used in the training process of the competition.
Presentation of NONAME
Presentation of CIRCLE GREEN
Presentation of 3R
Presentation of PEOR
Presentation of GREEN PLASTIC
“Seeing your ideas and enthusiasm is an interesting experience for a person who accompanied you during the training period.'', shared Ms Dinh Nguyen Thien An.
“Nothing can stop me at the age of 62. It’s the love for the environment.“, shared Ms Phan Thi Thuy Phuong.
“How can there be a formula to solve all the problems? The important thing is how you deal with life—which is the goal and the action. Now you may be wrong, but you can share it with everyone and ask them to join hands.“, shared Mr Pham Thanh Tri with the strength and the enthusiasm of youth.
Five teams, with five ideas portraying different colours but with the same meaningful message “raising students' awareness of reducing plastic waste at UEF“, excellently completed the presentations showing their confidence and energy to convince the judges and the audience.
After the commenting and scoring process of the guest judges, along with the scoring from the participating students themselves, the first prize of the contest was awarded to the 3R team with the UNDERSTANDING project. Their idea was formed from a common problem at UEF—the loss of helmets integrated with solutions to help protect the environment. UNDERSTANDING excellently persuaded the judges and received the top prize in the competition.
“Having to participate on our own felt scary, but the chance to learn and grow left a great mark in our student lives.”, shared 3R members.
The first place went to 3R with the UNDERSTANDING project, and the second prize belonged to GREEN PLASTIC with ZERO PLASTIC WASTE IN UEF.
Third prize with the RA RECORDING ACTIVITIES project of NO NAME
PEOR and CIRCLE GREEN, with two respective projects AEROGEL INSULATION SHEET and WORKSHOP “SKILLS TO IMPROVE YOURSELF FOR BETTER PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT“, received the consolation prizes.
CREATIVE GARDEN has officially closed with the appearance of potential green “sprouts“. Hopefully, the lessons from 7 WEEKS OF CREATIVE GREEN will prepare you for continuing the journey of raising awareness and changing lives in the future.
News: Thanh Truc - Thu Trang
Photos: Service-Learning Leader Network
Translator: Le Quynh Thao Quyen
