Brilliant Nigerian female students win big at the 2023 World Affairs Challenge in the USA

A team of students from the Queen of the Rosary College in Onitsha, Anambra State – Nigeria, has clinched the global second place in the World Affairs Challenge – an international program and competition held to challenge middle and high school students to create SMART solutions for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The female students won the second position in the global challenge for their Queens’ Lyfe bags – a 100% plantable biodegradable bag made from rice straws, banana fibers, and corn husks and infused with tomato, pepper, and watermelon seeds, enabling the bags to grow into plants when discarded. 

However, a team from the USA won the first position, while a bilateral team of students from the USA and Iraq won third place.

 The Queen of the Rosary College team, led by their teacher/mentor, Mr. John Onuigbo, competed with over 760 participants during the various preliminary rounds, which narrowed down to 28 teams in the Global Championship, where the girls were named the Global second-place winning team in the high school division.

Teams from 9 countries participated in the WAC global finals this year – Nigeria, Ghana, USA, France, Iraq, Turkey, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Morocco.

Reacting to the win, Rev Sr. Maria Chijioke Nwankwo, the school’s principal, expressed joy and gratitude to God for the global achievement, saying, “We have been putting in the work to provide our students with world-class tech education. This has been evident in the win of our students in global innovation competitions like this and we thank God. We are building students who would make Onitsha their Silicon Valley.”

In the same vein, Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party during the February 25 presidential election in Nigeria, congratulated the students and teachers of the Queen of the Rosary College, Onitsha, for their brilliant performance.

In a post via his verified Twitter handle, he wrote, “I congratulate the Nigerian students from Queen of the Rosary College, Onitsha, who clinched second place in the just concluded World Affairs Challenge, which is an international competition for high school students, aimed at developing and implementing their own S.M.A.R.T. solutions for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.”

“The young students have brought honor to the nation through their smart idea which is very beneficial to the environment. I celebrate them, their teachers, and millions of youths across the nation who are involved in different productive enterprises. Together we will build the New Nigeria of our dreams.”