Quezon City students design green solutions with Minecraft

MANILA, Philippines — The Quezon City government has awarded students from different schools in the city for designing innovative climate solutions as part of the first-ever Quezon City Minecraft Challenge.

Launched last April, the QC Minecraft Challenge tasked students to build innovative solutions that enhance biodiversity, promote sustainable mobility and improve public health on three roads.

Students used Minecraft Education, a game-based learning platform, to develop their ideas.

Named overall champion were the Old Balara Elementary School for Grades 4 to 6, Ateneo de Manila Junior High School for junior high school and San Francisco High School for senior high school.

Meanwhile, winning the Most Innovative Build award were the Old Balara Elementary School, P. Laurel High School and Leandro Locsin Integrated School.

Receiving special citations were the Villa Verde Elementary School, Ateneo de Manila Junior High School and San Bartolome High School for the Most Impactful Proposal and the 15th Avenue Elementary School, Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo High School and San Francisco High School for the Best Pitch.

“We will continue to empower, involve and consider you in our decision-making process, not only because the youth are among the most vulnerable to the risks of climate change, but also because they have the most potential in developing solutions that will allow us to reach our environment and climate change goals,” Mayor Joy Belmonte, who was part of the panel of judges, said.

Other judges included Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability Department (CCESD) head Andrea Villaroman, Education Affairs Unit head Maricris Veloso, Clarissa Segismundo of Microsoft Philippines and John Erwin Magno of Line Learning and Development Solutions.

The overall team champions received P30,000, while the team champion moderator and team champion school received P15,000. Other finalists received 5,000 each.

The QC Minecraft Challenge was initiated by the CCESD as part of the Schools Reinventing Cities program, a collaboration between C40’s Reinventing Cities and Minecraft Education.

Using Minecraft Education, students selected by their schools designed solutions to help reimagine, reconfigure and revitalize three roads in the city: White Plains Avenue, Agham Road and Belfast Avenue.

The designs sought to green spaces and the green corridor network, enhance sustainable mobility and improve air quality.