Students from four colleges across the South East Midlands recently competed in front of sustainability experts to see whose idea for a sustainable future would come out on top.  

The Green Futures Challenge was hosted by Milton Keynes College at its Chaffron Way campus. Milton Keynes College took part along with Moulton College, Northampton College and West Herts College as part of the South East Midlands Inter College Competition (SEMICC) initiative. The group of colleges across the region come together for competitions in a range of curriculum areas, skill sets and topics to support students with developing their skills for the future.  

The brief for the Green Future Challenge was for students to research and plan a solution to a local sustainability issue, and to then present it to the panel of experts – Stephen Frampton MBE, Founder of Sustainability Support for Further Education (SS4FE), Michael Baugh, Founder of the Renewable Energy Coalition for Academia and Phillip Emsley, Head of Operations at the Renewable Energy Coalition for Academia.  

The teams presented their ideas on sustainability issues including recycling and reuse of construction waste, water scarcity and storage ideas and generation of energy through specially designed tiles. The judges chose the team from Northampton College as the overall winners, for their idea on traffic management around schools and colleges. The winner was selected due to their passionate pitch and presentation, and the judges had the impression they would take their idea forward and be passionate campaigners for sustainability within their college. 

Milton Keynes College entered two teams into the competition – one project was focused on producing reusable bricks from construction and carpentry waste, while the other team presented their idea to install kinetic floor tiles in college which would generate energy when they are walked on.  

Guillermo Valenzuela Uribe, one of the students from MK College who took part, said: “We chose idea because it combined sustainability principles with a practical solution to an issue that hadn’t been addressed before. This competition allowed to us to develop our engineering and problem-solving skills while learning about sustainability, showing us how small efforts can sometimes lead to big outcomes, even if we hadn’t originally planned it to go this far. 

“This competition gave us a huge opportunity to innovate and develop practical solutions in real-world situations, something which we can use in our future careers, regardless of the path we take. I entered the competition thinking how sustainability and green energy were important only for climate change and our environment, and left realising that it can also be the answer to many other real-world problems that impact our day-to-day lives.” 

In addition, Milton Keynes College’s Digital T Level students worked with the College’s Digital and Learning Resources team to design a range of activities for students to take part in during downtime between presentations. These included an online robot tour, an escape room, a quiz and augmented reality activities. 

Mark Walsh, Deputy Director for Curriculum at Milton Keynes College, commented: “We were delighted to host the Green Futures Challenge here at Milton Keynes College again this year. Bringing together learners from four colleges across the region to showcase the projects they’ve been working on and share new ideas on how we can tackle climate change is something we think is extremely valuable for our students. 

“At the Milton Keynes College, we’re committed to playing our part in tackling climate change and supporting our students with adapting to a more sustainable future. That’s why we’re proud of all of the learners for their commitment and dedication to this competition, and we look forward to hearing how they implement their ideas at their own colleges.”   

The event was endorsed by WorldSkills UK, a four-nation partnership between education, industry and UK governments to help raise standards in education and meet future skills demands. 

To find out more about MK College’s work in sustainability, visit Sustainability – MK College