Oh, the places you’ll go!
The Magenta House Expo ’23/’24 showcased student water and power sustainability innovations.
The Magenta House Expo ‘23/’24 happened on Saturday April 6, 2024 from 8am-9am. The event was the culmination of weeks of work from 6th to 8th grade classes on the part of 9 schools and over 18 teams, all competing for cash prizes and a chance for their work to be honored at The Pando Sustainability Awards at Caltech in April.
The Expo is like a science fair but focused on water and power conservation and efficiency projects that students have developed through the Magenta House Accelerator. Cash prizes are awarded to winning schools and organizations.
Expo challenge
Each year, the Expo challenges students to design projects that answer the following question:
How might we turn LA Magenta? That is, how might we make the city power-conscious and water-wise – beginning at the neighborhood level?
Student teams may develop projects for the Expo in any of three categories: new water- or power-saving tools or technology, new programs or systems, and new communications/community
Expo criteria for project assessment
Projects should be designed as “small bets” — quickly achievable, real-world prototypes that use simple, practical means to test big ideas.
Expo judges will assess them according to the following criteria:
–Innovation (new approaches) and/or creativity (execution of ideas), 25%
–Implementation strategy and viability, 25%
–Impact assessment – qualitative and quantitative, real and predicted, 25%
–Opportunities for growth and scale, 25%
The Magenta House Accelerator helps students get their projects Expo-ready!
Students take advantage of the Magenta House Accelerator to prepare for the Expo. The Accelerator supports student innovation from beginning to end and helps ensure competitive submissions.
The Expo is the first-of-its kind science fair-like opportunity for sustainability that’s coupled with a full-range project accelerator.
See innovations from Magenta House
Student projects have included an innovative worm-composting system, water-friendly designs for shoes, podcasts, and even a guidebook for creating water-friendly landscaping.
