​The KAUST School teachers and students continue their work of educating and learning despite the restrictions made necessary by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, they have received recognition in two distinct areas: the NEOM Innovation Challenge and the FabLab Network.

NEOM Innovation Challenge 2020

Thirty-two students from the TKS secondary school took part in the NEOM Innovation Challenge 2020, an international competition, which ran from October 12th - November 16, 2020.  The students were asked to tackle real life problems in the areas of Agriculture, Education, Energy, Environment, Health, and Water and to develop innovative, creative solutions incorporating the UN Sustainable Development Goals.  Two of the participating TKS teams reached the finals of the competition.

• Team Neo (Water) - Mohammed Alyahya (G12), Ben Powell (G12), Chelsea Lai (G12), Youssef Elhagrasy (G11), Saif Alattar (G11) 
• Team Daedalus (Environment) - Adityaraja Alevoor (G10, Arnab Chakraborty (G10), Varshini Chandrasekaran (G10)

Both teams have earned a 10 -day trip to NEOM during spring break. Well done to all the students who participated in the NEOM Innovation Challenge and congratulations to the teams who reached the finals.

The FabLab Network

The KAUST School Design Labs have officially joined the Fab Lab network.  FabLab is a global network of local labs, enabling invention by providing access for individuals to tools for digital fabrication. The KAUST Prototyping Core Lab is already part of this network, and now the TKS labs have been approved to join the network as well. Participation in the network will allow TKS to bring more STEM and Innovation opportunities to our students.

Much thanks is due to Azra Hanif, the lead on the NEOM Innovation Challenge, and Aaron Thompson, the lead on the FabLab project, for their hard work and dedication, and to David Tigchelaar, the Secondary School Principal for his continued support of the teachers and students involved in both projects.