Encouraging Creative Thinking & Equipping Learners with Critical STEM Skills & Analytical Abilities
The global electronics giant has decided to take a closer look at the work done by its mentors – a group of Samsung employees who have volunteered their time to support participating students in the 2025 Solve for Tomorrow competition.
The Top 20 schools that were selected to attend this year’s Samsung Solve for Tomorrow – Design Thinking workshops were paired with a group of mentors who were more than ready to turn and empower participating school learners into the next generation of problem-solvers. During these workshops which took place between April 10 and May 30, the 2025 mentors were able to assist both the participating learners and their educators by ensuring that they were equipped with essential skills and tools to approach problem-solving creatively and systematically.
These advisors also played a crucial role in ensuring that the workshops fostered critical thinking, design thinking practices, teamwork and the ability for the learners to develop human-centred solutions. During these workshops, the mentors were able to offer support through Question & Answer (Q&A) sessions, video calls and other forms of communication. And when the work of these mentors was analysed – looking at how they contributed in empowering learners from different schools to transform ideas into tangible solutions that address real-world challenges – ultimately leading to positive change in their communities – this is how the whole process penned out:
Zanele Sobuswa who was assigned to mentor learners form Mthiyaqhwa High School, in Kwa-Zulu Natal expressed just how excited she was to be part of the group of mentors this year as well. Last year, Zanele mentored Mbilwi Secondary School learners that hailed from Limpopo into a second place win. She is convinced that she can also help this year’s KZN-based school to not only move into the Top 10, but also to be part of the Top 3 winners for 2025.
This year, Zanele acted as a support structure – guiding learners of Mthiyaqhwa High School through the competition process and provided them with guidance in areas of problem-solving, research and prototyping. As a committed advisor who contributed to the development of learners last year as well – Zanele has once again helped to develop these incredible learner’s skills in STEM and encouraged their creative thinking capacity.
Another dynamic Samsung employee who returned as a volunteer this year is Rose Legodi. Rose is a very passionate marketing professional at Samsung – she possesses a curious nature, which allows her to approach life with imagination, creativity and an open mind. She was yet again more than willing to share her expertise, experience and guidance with the learners from two Bloemfontein-based schools: Lenakeng Technical and Lereng Secondary Schools.
In addition, Rose played a critical role in guiding learners from the two schools through the competition process and this included brainstorming and research – in preparation for the prototype development stage. She was also able to assist this year’s learners and their educators to not only identify a challenge, but to also come up with a solution that will help address a genuine and pressing issue within their community related to infrastructure and safety, using technology. Like all the other advisors, she also ensured that the ideas for their solutions were based on the 2025 theme: “Infrastructure and Safety”.
Sizwe Mahlobo, another dedicated volunteer was assigned to a Limpopo based school – Thengwe Secondary. Sizwe has played a pivotal role in keeping his students focused and on track throughout the competition. He has successfully provided guidance and support to the learners, helping them to understand the competition’s requirements and develop their solutions. Importantly, during the workshops – Sizwe was able to help both the learners and teachers of Thengwe Secondary School with planning, learning and developing their solution – using the design thinking process.
As a mentor and advisor, he has also managed to offer STEM expertise and experience, checking the learners’ ideas and helping them refine their solutions. Sizwe has successfully provided guidance and support to the learners as they are in the process of developing their projects and prototypes – helping them to refine their ideas even further, while improving their problem-solving skills.
With the help of the Samsung mentors – one of the most significant and consistent takeaways from this year’s workshops is how the learners were able to effortlessly exercise their critical thinking skills. They have now been able to add to their STEM proficiency and are prepared for the rigors of higher education. Another critical observation is the growth in the learners confidence – allowing them to take on leadership roles, collaborate with their peers and successfully prepare to build their fully realised projects from idea to execution.
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