Four students from St John’s Anglican College at Forest Lake in Brisbane beat 100 finalists to become the first Australians to win a prize at the prestigious Conrad Spirit of Innovation Challenge held at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
The Courier-Mail reported Year 11 students Kelsey Matushcka, Olivia Hutley, Shihaab Azam and Hamza Khan took out the Health and Nutrition category with a proposal for an app that could help mental and physical health problems.
Their Lumos Application is based on studies that show exposure to devices can lead to mental and physical health issues.
It helps to regulate light colours of mobile devices to alleviate poor sleep patterns.
The prize included help in establishing patents for the app as well as marketing and private entrepreneurial support to take it to market.
Olivia said the experience of meeting students from across the globe as well as scientists was “probably the greatest thing ever”.
“It was the most amazing feeling to win,” she said.
Shihaab said that with help from experts, taking the app to market “would be a real possibility”.
“It’s incredible, knowing you created something that can make a difference and be used by the public,” he said.
Senior teacher Nathan King was also the first teacher from outside the US to win Teacher of the Year.