Xplor Education’s Space Cadets program supports rising stars for 7th consecutive year

You can feel a buzz throughout the Xplor Education office around the same time every year. It has nothing to do with the upcoming holidays or regular calendar events, but for many Xplorers, it’s their favourite time of the year. It’s the time when several bright, motivated minds from St Andrews Lutheran College in Queensland come to the Melbourne office for a unique experience known as Space Cadets. 

Since 2018, students from St Andrews’ annual “Innovate and Create” (IC) Program have travelled to the Xplor Education Melbourne office with dreams of changing the world. For two days, Xplorers support these students across several areas such as marketing, engineering and design to help boost their entrepreneurial capability and bring their visions to life. The event culminates with a pitch event where the students present their ideas to a panel of expert judges who give them feedback and suggestions on making their dreams come true. 

Providing non-verbal people with a voice—and eye contact 

One such student is Annie Rogers. After discovering her non-verbal best friend’s frustration with a lack of eye contact caused by people looking at the computer that projected her voice rather than her face, Annie decided to act. She came up with the concept of My Voice, a wearable speaker. This Bluetooth speaker embedded in a necklace helps restore eye contact when communicating with non-verbal people. This can help eliminate feelings of disrespect and loss of human interaction that non-verbal people may experience. 

Though unfamiliar with the IC program at St Andrew’s, Annie decided to give it a go and immediately loved the welcoming environment. It wasn’t long before she was talking with her robotics teacher about a prototype and working on her pitch with her English teacher. That pitch was successful enough for her to be chosen as one of the students to travel to the Xplor Education offices, an experience Annie will never forget. 

“I remember walking in (on crutches) to a room full of smiling faces and lots of coloured shirts, red, yellow and blue. My whole team had blue shirts reading “Team Annie” on the back so I could identify my mentors. The unwavering support was so unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I was in Melbourne with a team of 20 adults who had never met me before and who were willing to spend three whole days helping me. It was surreal being 13, leading a team of 20 adults to help me.” Annie Rogers, My Voice founder 

Pushing through hiccoughs and challenges with the help of Space Cadets

Annie missed her chance to pitch My Voice in 2021 due to COVID restrictions. But she was still able to work with her team online. She was able to do her pitch the following year, along with the 2022 Space Cadets in Melbourne. A few years later, Annie has a working prototype and continues diligently working to bring My Voice to the market. While balancing school and My Voice can be challenging, Annie’s support network is always there for her.  

“Through the struggle of prototyping, I have built a support network of people who want to help me succeed and bring My Voice to market. While it is frustrating that it has taken as long as it did, I have learnt so much through this process and couldn’t imagine it any other way.”Annie Rogers, My Voice founder

This journey has also provided Annie with several experiences she never anticipated. She has shared her journey by presenting at multiple schools (including internationally), being interviewed on podcasts and speaking at conferences. 

Along the way, she’s picked up several accolades, including “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” from the Next Gen Awards. She was also chosen as “One to Watch” for “Most Impactful Entrepreneur of the Year” from the Young Change Agents. Most recently, she won the “Young Women of the Year” at the “Gold Coast Bulletin Women of Year” awards.  

Giving young minds the tools for success 

To make it to the Space Cadets program, students must participate in the IC program and outpitch their classmates. This program is only possible due to the work of educators like Terri Myles, Head of the Business Department at St Andrews. Baden U’Ren (an educator in the entrepreneurial space) inspired Terri to expose students to entrepreneurial ways of working. She founded the IC program to allow students to explore their passions while trying to solve real-world problems in a safe space. 

The initial invitation to have IC students travel to the Xplor Education office in Melbourne gave Terri goosebumps. That first reaction was warranted, with Terri noting, “Every student who has been to work with Xplor has come back to school with a different (higher) level of confidence.” As the IC program and partnership with Xplor Education has grown, students are genuinely excited when representatives from Xplor Education visit St Andrews as guest speakers or to judge initial pitches and select the winners who will join Space Cadets that year. 

“We probably weren’t expecting the Xplor culture to be so relaxed and welcoming.  Everyone is able to relate to our students and make them feel so comfortable.  We love seeing the students working with industry professionals and how the students are treated more like co-workers rather than teenagers. We love seeing the growth in confidence over the two days and the opportunities they have to pitch to venture capitalists (VCs) such as Amazon,” Ms Myles said. 

Space Cadets 2025 will be here in the blink of an eye 

In October 2024, a record number of 16 students from the IC program presented their pitches to a panel of judges, including representatives from Xplor Education. When the dust settled, the judges finally agreed on three finalists to travel to Melbourne in early May. That only happened after some intense deliberation.   

The Xplor Education team is already ramping up to work with the next group of Space Cadets and to help empower them to succeed as entrepreneurs. In line with Xplor Education’s values of building for people and creating lasting communities, the Xplor Education team is eager to do what it can to help this new group of Space Cadets thrive.  

“We’re proud to have been a part of Annie’s journey,” said Harry Vamvakas, VP of Product at Xplor Education.

“We can’t wait to see her successfully bring My Voice to market. Annie, we wish you the best of luck and congratulate you on your recent win at the ‘GC Bulletin Women of Year’ awards. Having bright stars such as yourself innovating to better the world, we look forward to a better future.”

Learn more about Xplor Education here.