They have been selected from more than 10,000 applications from across the world
The idea of the contest, which is organized by the Varkey Foundation in partnership with Chegg.org, is to promote exceptional students, those who make real impact on learning, the lives of their peers and on global society. The winner is to receive a cash award of 100,000 US dollars.
Martyna Łuszczek reads economy at the Leon Koźmiński Academy in Warsaw. Brought up on her family’s farm in a small village, she has been interested in the development of new technologies from an early age. She is one of the creators of Aquacollector, a portable device designed to collect and utilise microplastics from bodies of water. These small particles of various types of synthetics, created by the decomposition of trash in water, affect the health of organisms that mistakenly consume them as food, and enter the human body.The Aquacollector device has attracted the interest of many foreign entrepreneurs and institutions. Last year, Martyna was invited to promote Aquacollector at the EXPO World Economic Conference in Dubai.
Martyna has appeared in McKinsey & Company’s “25 most influential young people under the age of 25”.
She told organizers of the Global Student Prize that, if declared the winner, she would invest the funds into a further development of her own inventions and research projects focusing on digital technologies, as well as into local initiatives aimed at helping young people from less privileged backgrounds to access education.
The other Pole nominated for the Global Student Prize is Marcelina Maciąg. She is currently a member of the Pre-College Summer School Program for High School Students at Harvard University, focusing on brain health and history of mental health. Having had to grapple with dyslexia as a little girl, she found refuge in wide range of social projects, voluntary service, and youth activation. She advocates for the mental health of children and teenagers, works to stop hate and cyberbullying, and promotes a sustainable future through projects that address the environment, gender gap, and freedom of speech.
Marcelina is a member of the Youth Parliament of Poland and Chairwoman of the Mental Health Commission at the Council for Dialogue with the Young Generation at the Chancellery of Polish Prime Minister. She is the founder of Youth Kindness Revolution, which has campaigned to legally prohibit anonymous hate on the Internet and promote a culture of empathy. She also created “Blue Box for Youth Mental Health” for schools where every student can anonymously express their concerns or ask for help.
According to the Global Student Prize, if Marcelina were to win the prize, “she would dedicate $60,000 to expanding the school’s “Blue Box for Youth Mental Health” initiative worldwide, with the remaining $40,000 invested in the Youth Kindness Revolution”.
The third Polish nominee for the Global Student Prize is Mikołaj Wolanin, who reads law at Warsaw University and canon law at the Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński University in Warsaw. He has published extensively on students’ rights and duties and presented papers at institutions such as Queen's University Belfast, University of Central Lancashire, University of Durham, University of Portsmouth, and the University of Texas in Austin.
In 2019, Mikołaj launched the Foundation for Student Rights, which responds to of requests for legal help from students and offers legal consultations for those who want to speak to someone face to face. The Foundation also organises the annual Student Rights Knowledge National Olympiad, which helps to educate students about their rights, as well as human rights and children’s rights generally.
Mikołaj regularly acts as an expert on student rights and gives interviews to Polish and foreign media.
If he wins the Global Student Prize, he would like to use a large part of the funds to invest in the education of his peers, setting up a mentoring programme to educate young leaders and advocates, as well as attracting financial sponsors who would help the programme expand globally.
(mk)
Source: Global Student Prize 2024