Students’ Creative Solutions to Community Issues Earn Each Finalist School $50,000 in Samsung Technology & Supplies
Samsung Electronics America today named 10 National Finalist schools from among this year’s 50 State Winners in the 13th annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition. Each National Finalist will receive a prize package of $50,000 in Samsung technology and supplies.
Solve for Tomorrow challenges public school students in grades 6-12 to use science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills to create positive change in their communities. The students behind the Finalists’ innovative projects, which address reducing food waste and insecurity, helping unhoused refugees, subway safety, accessibility, and water quality, will pitch their ideas on May 15, 2023 to a panel of judges at a live event in Washington, D.C. Three schools will then be chosen as National Winners and receive $100,000 in prizes.
“After three years of COVID disruptions that impacted students and educators alike, it’s been incredibly rewarding to see our Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition play a part in re-energizing the ingenuity and creativity that had been hobbled by remote learning and isolation for STEM students,” said Ann Woo, Senior Director, Corporate Citizenship, Samsung Electronics America. “The cooperative, hands-on, problem-solving focus of the Solve for Tomorrow challenge provided a spark for students looking to channel their energies to tackle issues that they see in their communities. These National Finalist students, teachers, and schools exhibit what we call STEMpathy – the use of STEM to help fix the issues they see affecting their friends and neighbors, people they EMPATHIZE with.”
All 50 State Winners in the prior round of the Solve for Tomorrow competition produced a three-minute video describing their project, the local community issue it addresses, and their proposed STEM-based solution. The National Finalists were selected based on their videos. Between now and May 15, 2023, the general public can vote online for one Community Choice Winner from among the pool of 10 National Finalists, who will win an additional $10,000 prize package. To choose your favorite Solve for Tomorrow Community Choice STEM solution, check out the Finalists’ videos, which can be viewed here:
SCHOOL |
CITY/STATE |
COMMUNITY ISSUE & STEM SOLUTION |
Brandywine High School |
Wilmington, DE |
AACU Switch - AACU Switch eliminates cost barriers by creating an affordable alternative to assistive tech devices for people with independent living disabilities, costing a fraction of the market standard. |
Strawberry Crest High School |
Dover, FL |
Human Health Band - The Human Health Band is a wearable sensor with an app that allows coaches to monitor athlete’s body temperatures and prevent heat related death. |
Richmond Hill Middle School |
Richmond, GA |
Safe Sleep - Safe Sleep's purpose is to detect sudden increases in heart rate during a PTSD nightmare. This will trigger a companion app to play breathing exercises. |
Bloomington High School South |
Bloomington, IN |
Temp Mural - Temp Mural reduces the impact of global warming by engineering mural art using highly reflective, climate-positive barium sulfate paint. |
Merrimack Valley High School |
Penacook, NH |
Shelby - Shelby combats rising phosphorus levels in bodies of water with a turtle-shaped battery-powered robot with mechanical and chemical filters. |
Santa Teresa High School |
Santa Teresa, NM |
The Living Lumbre - The Living Lumbre is a smart solar-powered heated mat in response to the large flow of refugees who have ended up homeless in our community. |
Doral Academy of Northern Nevada |
Reno, NV |
Food Waste App – The Food Waste App diminishes food waste/insecurity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by connecting food producers with people to convert produce into meals. |
Liberty Avenue Middle School |
Brooklyn, NY |
Subsave - Subsave is an alert sensor within an app that will work along with the MTA help points to support commuters by discreetly reporting either a 911 emergency to police or a mental health emergency to mobile mental health responders. |
Porter High School (Autumn D.) |
Porter, TX |
HiveHub - HiveHub is a state-of-the-art beehive monitoring system capable of recording the hive traffic, climate, and activity, all the while giving live feedback through the user-friendly app. |
Greenbrier East High School |
Lewisburg, WV |
Mining Sensor - Mining Sensor assists with and expedites locating and rescuing lost cavers by sending a digital signal from the cavers to the surface. |
“It was a difficult process for the judges to winnow down the full set of fifty State Winners to our ten National Finalists,” added Woo. “All the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow teams showed tremendous determination to help their communities. They worked hard on their projects and video presentations. And we believe that all State Winner teams deserve to be seen and celebrated as the talented and compassionate STEM heroes they truly are.”
Up next in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition:
- The 10 National Finalists will head to a live Pitch Event on May 15 in Washington, D.C. Judges will then select three National Winners, who will each receive $100,000 in prizes.
- One of the 50 State Winners will be honored as our Sustainability Innovation Award Winner, receiving an added $50,000 prize package of eco-conscious classroom technology.
- Of the 10 National Finalists, one will be named Community Choice Winner through online public voting, receiving an additional $10,000 in Samsung technology. To participate, simply view the student-created videos on the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow website and cast your vote. Voting is permitted once a day until 11:59 p.m. EDT on May 15, 2023.
- Samsung employees will name one team this year’s Employee Choice Winner. That honor earns the winning school an added $10,000 of Samsung technology on top of their national winnings.
Across all award categories in Solve for Tomorrow, more than $2 million* in Samsung technology and classroom supplies will be distributed in the 2022-23 competition.
As part of Samsung’s guiding vision of ‘Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People’, Solve for Tomorrow launched in 2010 to encourage innovative thinking, creative problem-solving, and teamwork to address the most pressing issues impacting society. To date, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow has awarded $24 million in classroom technology and materials to 2,791 public schools in the United States.
To learn more about the national STEM competition, please visit www.samsung.com/solve or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.
*$2 million prize is based on an estimated retail value.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230419005407/en/
Contacts
Media: Nancy Zakhary, SamsungSFT@relev8.co
