"Our machine is like a cash register, which gives us tickets for the rubbish we collect and put there, and which we collect in a booklet, which, when filled, gives us prizes". This is how Salvador, a primary school student from Cabeçudos Basic School, described the "Ocean Saviour" project, built and executed during the last school year in collaboration with students from the engineering courses of Lusíada University and the professional courses of D.Sancho I Secondary School. "We want to make everyone responsible and make the planet a cleaner place and we started at school, with a machine that arose from the concern about the much rubbish in the oceans but which is our own rubbish, and that with habits that should start at school, we can contribute to a cleaner world", added the student.
The "Ocean Saviour" was only one of the 10 machines that were on exhibition today in the hall of the Lusíada University of Famalicão, with the projects of the students of different school groups of the Famalicão municipality that participated in the My Machine educational project.
"The richness of the project is to involve students from different levels of education, involving them and above all creating in the youngest the incentive for entrepreneurship, research, science and technology, which by following these areas in the future, may contribute to the growth of the industry that we want in Vila Nova de Famalicão", said the Councillor for Education and Science, Augusto Lima.
Moreover, this articulation between the different levels of education brings advantages for all, says Pedro Fonseca, project supervisor at the professional school Forave. "It is an articulation between the imaginary of the younger students that the university students transform into pieces that we, in professional education, gladly end up making".
My Machine is an educational project that last year involved more than 1000 students from different school groupings, Lusíada University and professional schools in the municipality. From the exhibition, the machines are sent to the schools so that the students can effectively use them.
