Roleystone Community College Students Become Reinventors

Year nine students from Roleystone Community College spent their lunchbreaks during semester two reinventing xylophone parts into homes for birds and insects for their Young Re-inventor of the Year challenge, an initiative of the Switch your thinking program.

According to art teacher Anita Littlewood, the entry was a first for the school, and she collaborated with music teacher Jane Slater to utilise xylophone parts to create colourful garden homes for birds, ladybugs, butterflies, and bees.

“We made sure we were using the right colours, it seems some insects don’t like yellow, so we are confident they will work when we place the homes in gardens around the school,” Mrs Littlewood said.

While the College did not win the challenge with their first entry, they would do it again.

“We had a great time coming up with our entry, and working together to create different designed homes for birds and insects who visit our College.  Now they will be a bright addition to our College gardens,” Mrs Littlewood.

The Young Re-inventor of the Year challenges young people to rethink waste. In 2017, the challenge adopted a Gardens Alive! Theme, and asked young people to reinvent rubbish into something that brought their garden to life. This year’s program attracted 136 entries created by more than 400 people from across the State.

Mayor Henry Zelones said it was fantastic to see schools from the City of Armadale entering such a creative and thought provoking challenge, helping to spread the word to reduce, reuse and recycle.

“The City of Armadale has been part of the Switch your thinking program for a number of years now, and this challenge is one example of how the program reaches out to our community and encourages responsibility for our environment locally and globally,” Mayor Zelones said.

To see the full list of winners and their inventions for this year’s Young Reinventor of the Year challenge, visit www.switchyourthinking.com. Young Re-inventor of the Year is funded through the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Account administered by the Waste Authority.