Last year’s team found a simple fix with big impact; this year’s cohort forms now
They didn’t set out to build something for bees. They set out to understand why a small problem could ripple into a big one. After interviews and a few pivots, the team arrived at a simple, bee-friendly add-on a beekeeper could use and a clearer sense of how students can change the world by learning how systems work.
That approach returns this fall as Cal Poly opens applications for the fifth annual Change the World: The Systems Thinking Challenge, a cross-campus program with faculty mentors, training and milestone stipends, culminating in a May 2026 showcase.
The challenge rewards discovery over flash. Students map how one decision affects the next, ask who benefits and who might be left out, and learn why the simplest answer is often the most useful. “We want students to ask who is affected, where the leverage points are and what unintended consequences might follow,” said Priya Verma, professor of natural resources management and environmental sciences and a faculty mentor since 2022. “It is not just a solution. It is understanding the system.”
For last year’s team, that rhythm of listening, pivoting and simplifying shaped the path to Buzz Off.
Buzz Off: a pivot that stuck
Early on, the team sketched a device for washing recyclables. Research and feedback from mentors sent them back to the whiteboard, and one teammate had been tracking honeybee decline and its ripple through food prices and farmworker livelihoods. Conversations with beekeepers, including Cal Poly adjunct instructor Patrick Frazier, narrowed the focus to varroa mites, small parasites with big consequences for hive health.
From there, the idea became tangible. Buzz Off is a hive-entrance attachment: returning bees pass through a short channel; a brush knocks off mites, a trap catches what falls, and a planned infrared alert flags rising counts before a colony is stressed.
After surveying existing approaches, from detection-only devices to DIY sticky pads, the team combined the strongest ideas into a buildable, cost-conscious concept. Grace Hurley (manufacturing engineering) 3D-printed the housing; Zoila Kanu (computer science) shaped product direction and hardware-software trade-offs; Lea Graham (environmental management and protection) led outreach and beekeeper feedback.
They also learned to embrace change. “We thought we had to have our idea locked by the first presentation, and we were relieved to learn we could pivot,” Graham said. The shift was as much about mindset as mechanics. “I learned to think more like an engineer,” she added, noting how Kanu’s and Hurley’s skills filled gaps in her own. That year, Graham earned an internship with the Marine Protected Areas Collaborative Network, where a user-first, systems approach became a talking point.
For Kanu, systems thinking was new. “I had no idea what it was until that first meeting. The examples made it click,” she said. The work gave her room to shape product direction. Midway through, she secured an internship with Foot Locker’s tech hub in Dallas after showing how the team turned interviews into product decisions.
Mentors helped the team test assumptions and explain value in plain language. “It was invaluable,” Graham said, describing a mix of encouragement and direct critique that sharpened their concept. By the final review, the team could explain what the device would do at the hive entrance and when to act.
Mentors in the middle
What kept Buzz Off moving wasn’t a single breakthrough. It was steady mentoring. Students have always worked closely with faculty; this year the support will be even more structured. Each team will have a primary faculty mentor and will still visit other mentors for fresh eyes. Check-ins set next steps and give teams a workable rhythm.
Program director and industrial engineering Professor Jill Speece said the update is meant to make that support more consistent. “We’re adding more structure this year to give students clearer guidance and support,” she said. Mentors will introduce simple tools as teams need them so students can try an idea, get feedback and iterate. New this year, milestone stipends recognize that effort: $250 in January, $350 in March and $400 in April, for $1,000 per participant who completes all three reviews.
Verma sees the payoff in how students work together. “The teams that do well listen to each other,” she said. “They learn each other’s languages and stay open to new perspectives.”
The result isn’t just a cleaner prototype. It’s a practice of asking better questions and checking assumptions before they build, a habit that carries into internships, capstones and whatever comes next.
Beyond the Buzz
In the end, it wasn’t the plastic housing on the table that lasted. It was the rhythm of working together: steady touchpoints, shared responsibility and growing trust. What began as a project became an ongoing collaboration. Those relationships lasted; classmates became friends who still show up for each other, and mentors stayed in the picture after the final review.
There was joy in the work. The team joked about friendly competition and paid attention to small wins that came from listening first. Conversations with beekeepers refined features, and mentor feedback kept the scope right-sized. They kept coming back to two guiding principles: start with the person you’re building for, then trim what doesn’t serve that need.
“Think outside the box. None of us thought we’d be working with bees. The whole thing is a learning process,” Kanu said. “If you’re going to do it, envelop yourself in the challenge,” Graham added. “I remember feeling supported during our final presentation and so celebrated.”
Mentors noticed the same shift: students asked better questions and chose smaller moves that mattered. Start with people, then build only what belongs. That’s the heart of the challenge — and the practice they will carry to the next problem.
By Emily Slater
Change the World: 2025–26 At a Glance
- Apply by: Oct. 31
- Kickoff: Nov. 15, 9 a.m. to noon
- Showcase: May 2026
- Who: Open to all majors; 40 students total in 10 faculty-formed teams
- Mentoring: Primary faculty mentor per team; visit other mentors as needed
- Weekly mentor office hour: Thursdays, 11 a.m.–noon
- Training: Short sessions on systems thinking tools during the year
- Milestones and stipends: $250 (January), $350 (March), $400 (April)
- Finals awards: $5,000 (first), $3,000 (second), $1,500 (third); honorable mention recognized
