DISTRICT STORIES MAKING AN IMPACT
- PITCH FOR PURPOSE FINALS 2026 - Big Thinking from Young Minds
- Rotary Hills-Kellyville Annual Writing Competition for Year 6 students
- A railway wheel that squeals less
- An app that helps families waste less food
- A new way to pull plastic from waterways
These were not ideas from a research lab — they came from school students across Sydney. More than 50 teams involving around 250 students from ten schools took part in Rotary Pitch for Purpose 2026, developing practical responses to environmental problems around them. On 19 September, 19 finalist teams — around 90 students — came together at Western Sydney University’s Parramatta South campus to pitch their ideas.
Visionary Voices from Marsden High School won the high-school competition with No Squeal Wheel, tackling freight-train noise through improved wheel design. Fellow Marsden team Impact Igniters placed second with air-pollution solution Pie Crust Purifiers, while Eco Amigos from The Ponds High School took third with Scansnack, an app targeting food waste.
In the primary competition, The Sprinkles from Kurrajong Public School won with Do Something Drastic, Cut The Plastic. Plastic Brains from Waitara Public School placed second with The Plastic Wheel, designed to collect plastic from waterways, and Impecca from Dural Public School third with The Impecca Bottle.
Yet the ideas on stage were only part of the story.
Rotary facilitators brought backgrounds spanning engineering, education, architecture, law, public speaking and storytelling — questioning, encouraging and helping students build confidence in explaining and defending their thinking.
At the Finals, judges tested their ideas further, while speakers showed where these early steps might lead. John Wright, Relieving Deputy Principal at Castle Hill High School, particularly valued how the speakers gave students a glimpse of pathways that could open if they continued to build on what they had begun. “It’s amazing to see what young people come up with when they’re given a real-world problem, some guidance and, importantly, an opportunity to be heard,” said Pitch for Purpose convenor Niranjan Deodhar.
Sabina Heinrichson, Assistant Principal at Dural Public School, reflected that experiences like this can influence “the way they see themselves, their ideas and what they are capable of achieving.” Families and teachers also gained a window into Rotary through club showcases, videos and conversations about projects making a difference in the community.
Towards the end came a deliberately simple invitation: “What’s one thing you’d enjoy helping us build?” Scan the QR code, take half a minute, and tell us. Within two minutes, 35 people had responded. The students had spent the day showing what can happen when people look at a problem and think, surely, we can do something about that. Now people in the audience were taking a first step themselves.
Perhaps that is the real promise of Pitch for Purpose:
Young minds discovering what they can build — and inspiring others to ask what they might help build.
Pitch for Purpose returns in 2027.
Rotary Hills-Kellyville Annual Writing Competition for year 6 students
A special project for 21 years, of the Rotary Club of the Hills-Kellyville is the annual writing competition for year 6 students in schools across the Hills area and surrounding districts, attended by over 200 people to celebrate achievements of the students from 14 local schools who participated. The purpose of the competition is to promote Literacy among Year 6 Students in the Hills district.
The title of this year's narrative was ‘When I arrived, I opened the door and …….’.
There were so many incredible entries to challenge the judges. The Rotary Writing Competition continues to be one of the highlights of our Rotary Year and in the words of Haran Ramachandran, 2026-27 District Governor Elect for Rotary District 9685, “the voice of every child in the competition mattered and they were encouraged to keep imagining, keep questioning and keep writing”. Schools represented in this year’s competition included Public Schools (Bella Vista, Crestwood, Excelsior, Ironbark Ridge, Kellyville, Matthew Pearce, Sherwood Ridge & Winston Hills) and Independent Schools (Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of The Angels, Our Lady of The Rosary, Rouse Hill Anglican College, St Angela’s & St Michael’s).
Top placed students : 1st Zara Rahman – Iron Bark Ridge Public School (Pictured) 2nd : Varsha Sivakumar – Sherwood Ridge Public School, 3rd : Shukan Trivedi – Matthew Pearce Public School
Winning schools: 1st: Matthew Pearce School, 2nd : Sherwood Ridge Public School, 3rd : Ironbark Ridge Public School
The top placed students and schools received awards, trophies and monetary prizes thanks to our patrons of the awards and Five Senses Education. We are also grateful to Club Grants NSW via Castle Hill RSL in supporting The Hills-Kellyville Rotary Club to host this event, as through their generosity, a large number of school representatives, parents, and students were able to participate in the Presentation Night.