Being a global citizen, leader and environmental enthusiast is no easy task. Prabhdeep Lochab’s story is a testament to the hard work, dedication and commitment that goes into innovating “green” solutions for a sustainable future.

A second-year Diploma student at the Aga Khan Academy campus in Mombasa, Prabhdeep Lochab was the gold medal recipient at the Golden Climate International Science Fair Olympiad for his “plastic concrete” invention.

“I wanted to come up with something unique which was practical and easy to carry out,” Prabhdeep says. For his project, Prabhdeep aimed to alleviate pollution in construction, using plastic in a concrete-mix for construction of infrastructure for non-commercial construction. This concrete could be used to construct walkways, driveways, and parks.

When asked about his motivation to pursue a science project for the fair, Prabhdeep said “I have a personal interest in science and I love inventing and being creative to help find solutions to everyday problems.” The simple yet effective solution Prabhdeep managed to devise exhibits his passion for the sciences, as well as his passion to solve environmental issues on a local and global level.

When reflecting on the process, Prabhdeep claimed that it was very challenging to balance school work and extracurricular activities along with finding time to work on his invention. 

“I would come up with a new idea every meeting and it was rejected as being either to simple or relatively complicated to carry out. It was very frustrating but I was committed and I kept on trying,” he says.

He appreciates the meeting time he had during the science club that was offered, as he was able to use that time to discuss his ideas with teachers and create a research plan. “We met once every week on Tuesday to discuss the progress of our ideas and concepts that we wanted to use as our projects. Being a part of this group really pushed me to my limits.”

After much struggle and careful mentoring from his science teachers, Mr Godfrey Kokeyo and Mr Charles Gumba, at the Academy, Prabhdeep’s project progressed to the national level. For Prabhdeep, the experience was already so fulfilling because of the hard work, dedication and commitment that went into creating the project. “I realized what a huge event this was and that it was something big to come as far as I had. I knew that I had achieved something great even if I didn’t win anything,” Prabhdeep shared. 

Prabhdeep had the opportunity to represent the Academy and his country, Kenya, at the international level at the Golden Climate International Science Fair Olympiad. His project was shared with various ministers from Kenyan environmental authorities and also in front of a panel of judges, who are all acclaimed scientists in their respective fields. His work was particularly recognized for the detailed lab report, experimentation process and presentation of data using a diverse range of media (graphs, text, etc).

Prabhdeep and his parents were both pleasantly surprised when his project was not only awarded the gold medal in his category, but was also awarded a special prize from the National Environmental Management Authority.

For Prabhdeep, this opportunity was so rewarding as he claims it helped him increase awareness of his personal strengths and helped him grow as an individual. 

Through this experience, not only was Prabhdeep able to devise a simple solution to help alleviate pollution, but he was also able to apply skills learned in the classroom at a practical level such as writing lab reports and representing data. His hard work, dedication and commitment to make the world a better place is evident in the accolades his project received at the Golden Climate International Science Fair Olympiad.

By Karishma Bhagani