Transcona Collegiate Students Win Jurisdiction and Advance to Finals in Global Competition Focused on Mobility Challenges During Natural Disasters

When Hannah Fernandez, Brandon Sherby, Emma Provido, and Daniel Ajuwon started their Grade 12 English Language Arts class in their final semester of high school, they thought they’d be doing a “normal” English project to get their credits for graduation.

Instead, they found themselves competing against their classmates and students from other parts of North and South America to come up with a solution for mobility challenges people face during natural disasters. Surprised as they were with the challenge, what they found even more incredible was that they won their jurisdiction and advanced to the global competition where they are competing against teams from Hong Kong, Japan, and Greece.

The quartet developed “Floaty Chair” to keep people in wheelchairs above water during typhoons and floods until help arrives. Taking inspiration from the life jackets on airplanes, their idea uses a U-shape rapid expansion device that wraps around the wheelchair, ensuring the person remains safe as water levels rise, and artificial intelligence to alert first responders that the device has been activated.

The students also took inspiration from their backgrounds and family experiences.

“Three out of four of us have Filipino heritage,” said Hannah, the de facto leader of the group. “I still have family in the Philippines and a grandparent in a wheelchair who lives beside a river. Typhoons happen there regularly. We used this to come up with an idea for our project.”

The Made to Move Communities competition was created by Otis, a global manufacturer of elevators and escalators. Since Otis is in the business of making people move, it seems a natural extension of their mission to resolve different kinds of mobility challenges. Each year, Otis picks a theme related to mobility and invites schools and students from around the world to participate in identifying potential solutions. This year’s theme was natural disasters.

Otis’ social impact competition encourages STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) innovation and leadership. But students also develop global competencies like creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration, which are part of Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning’s Framework for Learning. It also uses an inquiry-based approach with strong emphasis on presentation design and delivery that made it a perfect fit in the Grade 12 ELA class.

Principal Anita Maharaj spearheaded Transcona Collegiate’s participation in the program in the 2025-26 academic year, so this was the second time the school has participated.

“The Otis competition offered an opportunity to engage students in real world, impactful learning and we just could not say no to that!” said Anita. “Thankfully, our teachers agreed!”

One of RETSD’s strategic priorities is “Innovative Learning Excellence.” Innovation in education can mean coming up with new ways to help students be successful such as identifying teaching alternatives that help students derive meaning from subject matter or removing barriers so that every student can participate. But it can also mean looking for partnerships that create opportunities for learning, like the Otis competition.

All four students said they learned a lot developing “Floaty Chair” over the five weeks from the start of class until their first presentation.

“It evolved our thinking skills, our creativity,” said Emma.

“It brought a team work ethic to the classroom,” said Brandon. “That’s important for us to learn because collaboration with others is part of all jobs.”

Teacher Paul Stastook said that all thirty students in the class did well in their projects. What made the winning group successful was not only their idea, but the polished presentation they gave, which helped them to forge a connection with the judges.

The group and school are awaiting the outcome of the global competition. An announcement is expected in early May.

More information about the competition and finalists is available here: Otis Newsroom | Read the latest news releases.