Kokkinochoria Gymnasium and Kokkinochoria Lyceum excelled in the national stage of the EU-CONEXUS School Competition "Think Smart, Create Green" and will compete in the international stage next May. 

The competition is organized for the third year by the EU-CONEXUS European University and is implemented by Frederick University as a full member of the alliance.

The national competition took place on Tuesday 28 March at Frederick University in Nicosia. A national Jury evaluated the proposals of the six finalists in the two categories of the competition: Students aged 12-14 years old and their teachers were invited to transform their school into a Sustainable Green Building by creating a 3D model using sustainable and biodegradable materials and students aged 14-16 years old were invited to transform an existing area of their city into a smart and sustainable one by creating a computer-designed model.

During the evaluation of the proposals, the Shellhive team from Kokkinochoria Gymnasium in the 12-14 years category and the Restoration of an old building team from Kokkinochoria Lyceum in the 14-16 years category stood out. The two teams will present their projects virtually to the international jury on 4 May 2023 and will have the opportunity to compete for prizes ranging from €500 to €1000. It is worth noting that Kokkinochoria Lyceum participated in last year's international final, where it won third place among schools from nine countries of the European Union.

The National Jury was composed of Mr. Charalambos Theopeptou, Leader of the Green Party Cyprus, Dr. Chrysanthi Katzi, President of Frederick University’s Department of Education, Dr. Grigoris Kallis, Assistant Professor at the University’s Department of Architecture, Mrs. Lucia Nardi, Deputy Director of the University's Admissions Office and Mr. Vasilios Papasotiriou, an Architecture Engineering student. "I am really impressed by the presentations not only of the winning teams but of all participants. They created wonderful 3D models and computer-designed models to propose solutions in order to transform cities into sustainable, self-efficient, green and technologically intelligent environments. Involving students in competitions like the EU-CONEXUS one is a great opportunity to develop useful skills and raise awareness on sustainable development. Congratulations to the teams that stood out and to all the schools that participated", said Mr Theopemptou.

EU-CONEXUS is part of the "European Universities" initiative, a flagship initiative of the European Union aiming to develop a European Education Area and European Research Area. The EU-CONEXUS European University focuses on smart urban coastal sustainability and aims to develop innovative educational methods and interdisciplinary approaches in the field of blue growth, the circular economy and sustainability. The alliance includes La Rochelle Université (France), the Agricultural University of Athens (Greece), the Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest (Romania), Klaipeda University (Lithuania), the Universidad Catolica de Valencia "San Vicente Martir" (Spain), the University of Zadar (Croatia), the South East Technological University (Ireland), the University of Rostock (Germany) and Frederick University (Cyprus). In July 2022, the alliance was awarded funding by the European Commission to further intensify its transnational institutional cooperation in the next 4 years.