Loreto Kirribilli Crowned Winners of 2025 Metro Minds STEAM Challenge
25.08.2025
Now in its seventh year, the Metro Minds STEAM Challenge invited students from Years 7 to 10 across schools located near the City & Southwest, West, and Western Sydney Airport railway alignments to develop a forward-thinking solution to an authentic Sydney Metro challenge or opportunity. This year’s program was the biggest yet with 22 schools and over 630 students participating, supported by 34 dedicated Metro ambassadors.
Loreto Kirribilli and the other finalists – North Sydney Boys High School, Parramatta High School, St Clare’s College, Waverley and Xavier College, Llandilo pitched their ideas to a live audience of over 80 people at the Aerial UTS Function Centre on Friday 22 August.
The panel of judges – Claire Moore, Pamela Hendersen and Gaston Pena – praised the students for their innovative ideas and professionalism, noting that selecting a winner was no easy task.
The winning team’s idea called ‘Luminex’ is to introduce kinetic energy floor tiles in Sydney Metro stations. Strategically placed in high-traffic areas—near Opal gates, outside restrooms, and by platform screen doors—these tiles could harness commuter footfall to generate clean energy, allowing station amenities to be powered sustainably. The tiles could also be programmable, enabling dynamic visual displays that can celebrate key moments throughout the year, such as Pride, breast cancer awareness and New Year’s Eve, as well as local Indigenous art, showcased respectfully and with permission.
Their presentation pitch included detailed design prototyping, costs and thoughtful consideration of implementation challenges.
Rick Dufourq, teacher of the winning team, reflected on the experience: “This was our first year in the Metro Minds STEAM Challenge, and what an experience it’s been. Metro excursions, design workshops, and plenty of problem-solving led to today’s big moment. The girls handled the finals with poise and teamwork, answering tough questions like it was second nature. It reminded me of running a race — you train hard, trust each other, and when it counts, you deliver. Their success is proof that young women can thrive when given the chance to tackle real-world STEM problems. What an achievement by team Luminex.”
The student teams produced a concept brief, video pitch and prototype of their innovation, then presented them to Sydney Metro.
The Metro Minds STEAM Challenge is part of Sydney Metro’s broader FastTracking the Future education program, which aims to inspire the next generation of thinkers, planners, and engineers.
To learn more about the program and how it’s shaping young minds, visit Sydney Metro’s education page- https://www.sydneymetro.info/education