Charters Towers student Isabella O’Sullivan wins Enterprising Girl of the Year
A rural Queensland teen has won a major national award for an innovative idea that will be raised with the King during his upcoming visit.
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A rural North Queensland teen has won a major national entrepreneurial award for an innovative idea that will be raised with King Charles during his upcoming visit to Australia.
Isabella O’Sullivan, 13, from Charters Towers has been named winner of the inaugural Enterprising Girl of the Year after the national competition was launched earlier this year.
“When they told me that I’d won, I was speechless … this is not something I usually experience,” the Grade 8 student from Columba Catholic College said.
Isabella is a graduate of the Academy for Enterprising Girls, a government-funded program that seeks to inspire girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and business.
After graduation, the infectiously enthusiastic go-getter crafted a creative concept called Moisture Master, a remotely controlled robot that tests moisture levels in soils and can trigger irrigation if needed.
With a love of agricultural science and a drive to make life easier for farmers, Isabella turned her mind to outside-the-box solutions.
She has entrepreneurial pedigree, with her grandparents starting with little and working hard to build up their business to own cattle properties in northern and central Queensland.
“They’ve experienced lots of setbacks like drought, bushfires … and throughout it all they have remained positive.”
Enterprising Girls spokeswoman Fleur Anderson said the competition was an extension of the Academy’s free workshops and programs designed to “empower the next generation of female founders”.
“Girls see unlimited possibilities for creating positive change in the world, and the Academy – and now our new competition – exist to power charge that,” she said.
“This competition will help Isabella make real inroads into creating a career she is passionate about.”
Isabella flew to Canberra to present her idea to innovative leaders as a guest at the Kickstarter Challenge in Parliament House on Wednesday morning.
Ms Anderson said Governor-General of Australia Sam Mostyn who was in attendance at the event was deeply impressed by Isabella’s pitch.
She said the Governor-General said during her speech that she would mention Isabella and her idea to King Charles during his upcoming visit to Australia later this month.
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Originally published as Charters Towers student Isabella O’Sullivan wins Enterprising Girl of the Year
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