Ruby McCulloch, 17, is a global winner of the Rise Challenge by Schmidt Futures and the
Rhodes Trust – one of 100 young people who will be supported with benefits to serve
others for life. Ruby tells how the Cape water crisis helped launch her Rise journey…
Despite always being somewhat of a diligent learner, Ruby McCulloch a 17-year-old schoolgirl
from Cape Town considered herself lucky to get into the prestigious Parklands College. Being
very aware of the need to help her community, she has made the most of every opportunity –
“I’ve joined every service club, and taken all the subjects I can, no matter how difficult,” chimes
in the high-spirited teen.
Among those subjects was life sciences, which is what set her up for the opportunity of a
lifetime. She chose to do her grade 10 life sciences project on the effects of grey water on
plants.
She got the idea in 2018, when experiencing a drought in Cape Town, and water reuse was on
everyone’s mind. “My family got into the habit of reusing shower and laundry water to flush
toilets and to water to the garden,” recalls Ruby.
“I decided to look at the effect that this reused water has when reused to irrigate plants.”
She diligently monitored the plant growth rate growth and soil quality of her basil plants to
measure the effects, over a period of eight weeks. “For two months, our whole house just
smelled of basil,” said Ruby, who after many iterations of the same experiment can no longer
tolerate a basil pesto pasta.
“I was quite meticulous about it. I used a pH test kit to measure the soil’s acidity, and I also
checked how well the plants were anchored in the soil.”
The project was well received. After she entered the Eskom Science Expo and won an
international award, she was then encouraged to apply to the Rise program.
Created by Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust, Rise is a program that finds brilliant people
who need opportunity and supports them for life as they work to serve others. The program
starts at ages 15–17 and offers access to benefits that last a lifetime including needs-based
scholarships, mentorship, access to career development and funding opportunities and more as
Global Winners work toward solving humanity’s most pressing problems.
For her application, she decided to develop her project to measure the effects of different
brands of detergent as well as hand soaps. This time she used a more specific test to measure
soil nutrients like potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus.
“I was one of around 100,000 applicants from around the world so I tried not to get my hopes
up. Then, I got the email saying I was one of the 500 Finalists! I was freaking out!” says Ruby.
For the next stage, they asked to join a six-hour call with the rest of the Finalists. Each gave a
15-minute presentation on their project. Then there was a 10-minute individual interview.
What struck Ruby about the assessment process was how thorough it was, and also that the
coordinators were looking for potential. They were looking for people who had made the most of
their opportunities and were working to help others.
Months later, as she was leaving school, she recalls checking her phone. The “Finalists’ group
chat was buzzing”, said Ruby. The results were out! She rushed back into school to use the wi-fi
and checked her mails to find out her fate. “I saw the word, “Congratulations!” and I just burst
into tears. It was life-changing news!”, she beamed.
Now that its sunk in, she is determined to make the most of this opportunity.
Rise is still a new programme, so it’s quite versatile. “I’m planning to study medicine, so my
course may be adapted to incorporate that. In the meantime, we’re taking online courses every
weekend, and we’re waiting to hear about the location for next year’s Residential Summit,” she
explained.
It’s scheduled to take place just before she writes her matric exams next year. The high-
achieving teen has also been chosen as a Parklands school prefect – so there will be a lot going
on next year. But she is determined to not let any of that stop her!
“I’m thrilled to be part of such a future-focused programme – particularly because I’m now in an
even better position to make a difference,” says Ruby.
“I’ve always tried to be as green as humanly possible, even though I know we need scarce
resources to live. We need to find ways to use all of these resources as efficiently as possible.”
She is passionately concerned about water wastage that happens in areas like agriculture.
There is a chance to be more efficient there, to support food security, and to address water
scarcity. Ruby’s research is a small part of this.
She is encouraging other students who are interested to apply for the Rise programme to do so.
“Even making the finals can be life-changing,” she says, “You make friends, and you get to build
a global network.”
She says that the opportunity has already helped her to learn about herself and allowed her to
play a role in changing the world.
“Ours has been such a diverse cohort of people, with an incredibly wide range of skills and
interests. There have been people with an interest in science. People who have created
anthologies of songs and stories. People working to bring political parties together…”
She attended the Preparing Global Leaders Forum (PGLF), which took place virtually and was
attended by political scientists, economists and international thought leaders. Recalling that one
of the PGLF speakers said something that has resonated with her, “that if we’re afraid of doing
something we should just do it and do it afraid. We should never let fear hold us back from our
dreams.” Determined to live that advice – Ruby suggests that young self-starters between the
ages of 15 and 17 who have felt passionate about making a difference in their communities
should join this programme.
Entries are now open, for more information visit the Rise website and like Ruby said if you are
afraid to enter considering there are around 100,000 applicants from around the world, just do it
anyway.