STEM Story Writing Competition Winners 2024

Competition Writing Topic

All students in Cayman aged 6-14 years old were invited to submit a story that would inspire readers to engage in STEM subjects and empower young scientists to change the world. With STEM subjects becoming increasingly important, the competition gave students the chance to think about what science means to them.

Prizes

Children could enter their stories in one of three age categories, with the chance of winning some incredible prizes. These included: Camana Bay, Next Chapter and Kirk Office vouchers; family and class passes to some of Cayman’s best attractions, including the Cayman Parrot Sanctuary, the Crystal Caves, the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park and the Cayman Turtle Centre; plus a mangrove tour from Ambassadors of the Environment and a tour of the Caribbean Utilities Company (CUC) plant led by their expert engineers.

Judges

To ensure impartiality, three independent judges were selected from the fields of medicine, engineering and the environment to judge the competition. With so many original and inspiring submissions from children across all three Islands to read, the judges had the most difficult task in picking just three winners and three runners up. Read on to hear their reaction to the wonderful stories!

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who took part!

Dr Sarah Cuff, General Practitioner and owner of Seven Mile Medical Clinic. "I have thoroughly enjoyed escaping into the minds of these wonderfully creative and bright individuals through their story writing, and know they will succeed in life if they continue to strive for these dreams and aspirations." Judge of the 6-8-years-old category.

Purdy Gouveia, Project Manager at Caribbean Utilities Company (CUC). "I was very impressed with all the submissions for this age group. They were creative, engaging and captured the many ways STEM can create a better world. Within the lines of these wondrous stories lie the blueprints of tomorrow's innovations, forged by the curiosity and brilliance of young STEM pioneers." Judge of the 9-11-years-old category.

AJ McGovern & Bella Rooney, Environmental Policy & Development Officer and Climate Education Officer at the National Trust. "We loved reading these stories. They were all so different, but so filled with passion, adventure, and a sense of curiosity, reflecting the fact that STEM is all about exploring, learning, and problem solving. These young story tellers are exactly the kind of people Cayman needs for the future, those who can get others excited about the incredible things we are capable of when we put our minds to it. We hope that these stories will inspire others just as much as they did us!" Judges of the 12-14-years-old age category.

Winners & Runners Up

The stories from our winners and runners up have also been published on the Cayman Parent website.

Winner Age 6-8 Category: Zuri Patel, Age 7, Cayman Prep & High School

The Invisible Potion

Long ago, the world’s greatest magician, Harry Houdini, created a secret potion that turned people invisible. He realised that this could be used for evil so he destroyed it, but he left clues so that its recipe could be discovered again by someone who was clever enough.

There was a girl called Tina who loved magic. She learned about Harry Houdini at school and then became obsessed with everything about him. She even dressed up as him at Halloween, which was the day that he had died!

Tina heard about the invisible potion and then was determined to find the clues for its formula. She read every book she could find about Harry Houdini and visited all of the places where he lived, searching for the clues. She found one clue in his house in Budapest in Hungary, and another at his grave. She also found his straight jacket and there was a clue hidden inside that too! When she had managed to find all of the clues and compiled a list of the ingredients, she mixed them all together and finally recreated the potion! She then wrote down the recipe in a pen dipped in the potion, and wrote it down below so no one would find it...

Runner Up Age 6-8 Category: Vivia Grace Childers, Age 8, Cayman Prep & High School

New World

When Alexander was a boy he dreamed of becoming the most famous scientist in the world. When he turned seventeen, he went to Harvard University and became a chemist. When he was twenty-five, he got a job offer to work at Bill's Chemist Lab, the best chemist lab in America.

Alexander was now known as Dr. Alexander. One day, Dr. Alexander was working on a new potion that nobody had ever made, so he had to be very cautious and alert. When Dr. Alexander was adding the last ingredient into the beaker, it started buzzing, then it was bubbling, then it exploded! Leaving a mysterious circle floating in the middle of the lab room.

He took two steps closer to the circle and examined it. He found out it was a teleportation machine. Suddenly, it started sucking in all the furniture! Not my chair!" screamed Dr. Alexander. Dr. Alexander noticed his feet levitating off the floor. He was quickly sucked into the teleportation machine and yelled, "Help me please!" Dr. Alexander was now in an unknown world. Dr. Alexander yelled "where am I?"

The world was very colourful, almost like a drawing. There were frogs with wings, caterpillars with tails, and so much more. Dr. Alexander instantly knew this was his new and forever home. He loved everything about his new world.

Winner Age 9-11 Category: Che Scott, Age 11, Layman E. Scott Sr. High School (Brac)

Exploring The Unknown

One day, Trevor, a young marine biologist with an itch for exploring the unknown, got a call from a deep dive expedition to explore and study a new trench that had recently opened after a major volcano eruption in the middle of the Nalia Ocean. He immediately accepted this offer, gathered his team and set off.

As they descended into the deep sea, darkness surrounded the submarine; her lights were the only bit of brightness you could see around. Once they got near the ocean floor, they moved slowly towards the trench’s opening, hovered above it, then thrusted forward and downwards into the abyss of darkness. After the second mile down, they saw a light beaming in the distance.

Upon their approach, there was a thin layer of colourful liquid floating like a portal. They looked at each other with wonder and then proceeded. As the submarine touched the entrance, they all felt a chill and then awoke on the other side of the portal, on the ground, outside of the sub with no ocean in sight! They looked around, the entrance was still there, they secured the sub and started to explore.

They worried about getting home for a moment, but then realized they had just discovered a whole new world! Intrigued with curiosity, they set off and started taking samples of new plants and animal species they had never seen before. While walking, Trevor got a cut on his leg; then it healed instantly as a bush brushed it. That’s when he knew this world would change mankind forever!

Suddenly, they heard a loud roar and saw trees rumbling in the distance. It was time to get out! They grabbed their samples, jumped in the sub and left with a cure for the world above.

Runner Up Age 9-11 Category: Gabrielle Scott, Age 9, Cayman Prep & High School

What scientist

Once in South Africa a young lady called Martha just finished college in Miami and was Thinking about her dream job. She went to the best science college in the continent. It was called, Science and Smarts. Then Martha realises that there was one problem. "What type of scientist will I be? She wondered to herself repeatedly. When she got home to her family's house she was in for a big surprise. "SURPRISE!" cried a bunch of loud voices at the same time. "Mammy! Pappy! Maria! Mato!" She cried busting into happy tears. "Wow! I can't believe you all did this for me!" she laughed in surprise. Ten minutes later she was talking to Maria and Mato (her brother and sister} by the snack bar. "So what scientist are you going to be?" ask Maria curiously. "I don't Know which one." said Martha confused. "Mabey you should try the one you got the best grades on muffled Mato shoving a handful of chips into his mouth. "Yes, thank you Mota!" and then they danced the night away.

The next day Martha set out to find her dream job. She got three good scores at school, so she first tried to be a cemental. She went to a job interview with Mr Brown (the manger of the lab.) and she got the job! Unfortunately, on her first day she mixed to many chemicals together and the lab exploded! Mr Brown didn't look so happy. "You are fired!" shouted Mr Brown Sounding very angry. The next day she went to the biology lab to have a job interview with Mr Williams and got the job! Unfortunately, on her second day she created a contagious disease called Montacoges. "You are fired!" shouted Mr Williams sounding even more angry than Mr Brown. The next day Martha went to the marine lab and Martha was worried. Martha had a job interview with Miss Rosa bell the marine centre's manager. Surprisingly, when she got the job, she did not mess up and she knew a lot about the sea and then she remembered something before she when to college she lived on the cost of South Africa and loved to go to the beach.

Years went by and Martha did amazing! She rescued manatees and collected examples of the ocean to see how it was affected by climate change and when her boos retried she became the new boss and won amazing awards for her work and went down in history as the greatest marine scientist in the continent.

Winner Mikhaila Powell, Homeschooled

Saving Our Island Home

On the small island of Namyac lived a girl named Maya. She could talk with animals. Both Maya and her animal friends were sad that their beautiful home was being destroyed. The beaches were being eroded, the landfill was a big problem and the islands natural beauty was fading. Maya felt disheartened by the state of her island home and decided to do something about it. First she decided to speak with her animal friends.

“Shelly!” Maya shouted to the sea.

The turtle rose from under a pile of plastic nearly swallowing it. “Goodness all this plastic I can barely swim.”

“Hi Shelly, I'm doing a little project to try to fix the island. What do you think I should do?” she asked.

“Well you could start by getting rid of all this plastic,” she said

“That’s a great idea,” Maya shouted as she ran off. Next she went to see her parrot friends.

“Harper!” Maya called up to the trees. Harper came flying down, ”What’s up.”

“I'm building something to fix our island,” Maya explained “Got any ideas?”

“How about finding a way to recycle. The dump is getting enormous and when it catches on fire, I can’t breathe” Harper suggested.

“I got an idea, thanks!” Maya shouted as she ran off.

“That child… always in a hurry.” Harper chuckled to herself.

Next she went to her iguanas friends.

“Blue!” Maya called

“Yes! ... how you Bo-Bo?”, Blue shouted.

“There’s a project I'm doing to try to clean the island what do you think I should do?” she asked

“How about planting more trees, and recycling some of the things you use everyday” he responded, “I’m running out of places to live!”

“I can definitely do that, thanks!” she said ecstatic as she ran off.

Maya had all the ideas she needed. She and her dad set out to work. They worked night and day to design a machine that would save her island home.

Months later, Maya and her dad unveiled their eco-friendly machine capable of transforming trash into renewable materials. Eager to put their creation to work, they rallied the entire community on a recycle drive. One by one, members joined their cause. Through sweat and perseverance, the community transformed the island and as the island bloomed with renewed vitality, they knew that together, they could overcome any challenge that threatened their home.

“Dad we did it!”

Runner Up Age 12-14 Category: : Taylor Walsh-DaCosta, Age 13, Cayman Prep & High School

Adventure in the Thermocline

I climbed into my wetsuit, as quick as humanly possible, and ran down the hallway towards the dock. At last, I could finally dive in the thermocline! I was over the moon as I slipped into my dive gear (which was specially made for diving in the thermocline’s harsh environment) and ran out onto the dock. Seconds later I was in the water, diving deeper and deeper down with no going back. 

Under the surface is like a whole new world. A magical, mysterious place filled with extraordinary creatures. A place to get away from all the terrible things in the world and to just be peaceful. Most of the ocean is undiscovered and sits still and restful, laden with treasures just waiting to be found. I went deeper and deeper down and passed all the glitz and glamour the ocean has to offer until I reached a black abyss. The water was suddenly hotter and foggier and that’s when I realised I had reached the thermocline.

I checked my oxygen tank, I had a couple of hours left so I took the opportunity to explore my surroundings. After several minutes I had found nothing. It was not how I’d dreamt it would be. Instead, all I saw was plain, boring darkness. Or maybe not. In front of me and saw a large, black shadow heading towards me. Terrified I froze and started to panic. I hadn’t been trained for this situation before. The shadow moved closer. Oh no, I was going to die. Then suddenly, out of the black abyss, came a gigantic shark. It was around 20 feet long, with a flaming orange and yellow body and mesmerising yellow eyes. It was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. It looked like a phoenix, an extraordinary, bird-like creature that one could only dream of. That was when I realised, I had never seen anything like this before. In all my years of researching the thermocline I had never imagined it as a suitable habitat for animals because of its extreme heat. So how was this shark here? And how come I’d never heard of its type before? That’s when I realised I had discovered a new kind of shark! A rare and magical creature alike no other that I could now introduce to the world...