Contest Structure and Educational Integration
Our team design and mentoring bring both STEM and non-STEM participants into the contest.
Team Composition
Each participating high school forms its own team, paired with UCSC student mentors. Teams receive guidance from UCSC students and, where possible, UCSC faculty.
Project-Based Learning Model
Your team researches not only design and performance but also the ethical implications, the regulatory barriers and the community context of what it is building, and the non-technical students on the team carry that work through research, community engagement planning and public communication.
Mentorship and Support
Faculty from UCSC serve as mentors.
Ethical and Community-Informed Framework
Drawing on critiques of high-tech interventions in the Global South, the contest encourages teams to explore ethical trade-offs between technological efficiency and community autonomy, promote open access, local repairability, and technology sovereignty. The participants also contribute to knowledge equity by ensuring that documentation is available in open-access formats after the contest is over and, where possible, in local languages.