Next Generation on show: F1 in schools where creativity is enhanced by constraint

Image Magazine editor Stephanie Gaddin was recently invited to participate as a Marketing and Trade Booth Display judge in the F1 in Schools STEM Challenge – at the Australian National Finals. The challenge is the world’s foremost student STEM competition, involving over 17,000 schools in 51 countries, in which students design, manufacture and race a miniature F1 car capable of 0-80 km/h in under 1 second. Mimicking the world of a Formula One team, the student teams must also source sponsorship for their team, create a brand and engage in negotiation with sponsors. Given its broad scope across multiple disciplines, and the skills the students take on; the program is considered one of the most holistic school programs in the world.

Although the contest has a STEM focus, the program aims to develop real word problem-solving skills across project management, communication, collaboration, marketing, and entrepreneurialism. Almost all teams thus have either, a Marketing Manager or Graphic Designer, sometimes both. The panel of judges witnessed first-hand the incredible problem solving and ingenious innovations of the next generation of students that will enter the workforce in coming years, some even perhaps inspired to choose the Sign and Display industry.  

Dr Michael Myers OAM, Founder and Chairman of R-Engineering Australia Foundation, the foundation that runs the Australian contest, comments, “These programs link Schools, Industry, TAFE, Universities, and parents in a collaborative and experiential environment that has demonstrated a capacity to instil innovative capability in students very early in their years at school.”

The judging criteria for the marketing and trade booth category are quite specific, students must have a brand suite for their team, including logo and colour development, marketing material, team merchandise, team and supporter uniforms and a Trade Display Booth at the race events. This booth is subject to strict conditions and guidelines, with the two most important being that the booth must be designed and constructed in the main by the team; and secondly that all the elements of the booth have been considered under a lense of sustainability across multiple facets.

To earn maximum points, the booths must both externally showcase the team message, race car development and be a functional place to store team assets such as tools, bags, and other consumables in an elegant way. The booths must fit into specific size constraints and be designed for disassembly and transport as teams travel across Australia to compete and National winners travelling internationally.

This year, teams had to consider additional criteria because of supply chain impacts due to covid; this included repurposing items that could not be bought new or reusing materials from prior teams in their schools. Textiles, fabrics, and reusable and biodegradable materials made the difference between an average score for sustainability and a high score.

Highlights from the day include Aero Racing which had embedded three integrated digital screens in the backboard of their booth, which booth visitors could activate and navigate at will, they also showcased their final car on a front cut-out of their booth, entirely manufactured by the team engineer in the school workshop, using brackets and struts repurposed from a newly renovated kitchen at home. Team Synergise had a single fabric banner for the back and sides of their booth, giving a clean design and unbroken visual. Team Eve, who had constructed all panels of their booth (with the exception of the lighting panel) from Shark Skin Outdoor Board. Team Aureus, one of many all-girl teams who had a finished and professionally presented booth made from recyclable board, and wood and aluminium frame constructed by the team.

The panel could only be impressed with all the creative, enterprising young students who solved the problems of limited material supplies, closed covid borders and a requirement to be sustainable in a myriad of ways.

As the day came to an end, it was clear that while getting to race their cars may have been the goal at the start, all students who participated had gained immeasurable real-world knowledge and skills.  The next generation of signage installers, car wrap experts, and graphic designers are on their way up, and they are already showing us what they can do.