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Three students from Greensprings School, Segun Balogun, Adewale Saliu and David Onukwugha, have emerged overall best in Nigeria for creating a smartphone application that connects craftsmen with people who need their services.
This was at the 2023 Conrad Challenge where the students represented their school as Team S.A.D – an acronym they formed using the first letter of their first names.
Their innovation won them $298,000 worth of scholarships for their college tuition, an exclusive invitation to represent Nigeria at the Global Conrad Summit in April at NASA’s Johnson Kennedy Space Centre, America and ₦1 million cash prize.
Speaking on the school’s participation in the challenge, Acting Deputy Director of Education, Mrs Feyisara Ojugo said Greensprings presented five teams out of the 230 teams from several schools that participated in the competition.
Ojugo said four of the five teams made it to the finals, with Team S.A.D emerging as the best in cyber-technology and security category, and the best in Nigeria, thus claiming the grand prize after weeks of rigorous efforts.
Apart from the awards given to the winning team, each of the 15 students that made up the four finalist teams received $60,000 worth of scholarships from Clarkson University and awards of excellence.
An elated Ojugo said beyond winning the competition, she is pleased that the students were able to develop an app that would help solve a specific challenge in the country by connecting craftsmen with people who need them, thereby giving access to a larger market without limitations of geographic location.
It also enables instant access to their services at the convenience of the customer, without the hassle of driving around endlessly in search of workmen. She expressed satisfaction that the students are able to apply what they learn in the classroom to solving societal problems.
She remarked, “I want to say congratulations to all the teams that participated in the competition and I am super proud of our students for emerging winners of this year’s Conrad Challenge. Beyond developing the winning app for the competition, our students have put out a service through tech to help link artisans with those who need their services promptly and efficiently.
“This year, we embedded coding in our curriculum as a core subject that all our students should take. This is hinged on our understanding of the fact that coding is the language of the future. I am happy that the students are taking what they learn in the classroom to solve real-life problems more seriously. I can only look forward to more achievements from our students. The Conrad Challenge is a purpose-driven innovation competition with the aim of creating the next generation of entrepreneurs who will change the world.
